Unlocked
by DeathWriter97
Summary: "And even though she's dreaming, she's unlocked the meaning for you," - Shinedown Naru's been gone for almost a year and everyone has done their best to move on, but what happens when not everyone seems to take that hint?
1. Ghost of Days Gone By

"It seems so long ago,

Beyond the life that I now know;

Before the years would have their way and break my heart

Do you feel the same?

For what once remained;

Yesterday is gone, we can't go back again

Do you ever cry for the Ghost of Days Gone By?" – Alter Bridge

* * *

_A young woman stood in the middle of a seemingly familiar room. Her wide, brown eyes took in the comfortable seating arrangement, the front door with the odd English letters, "SPR", on the window, and the small hallway that led to a quaint little kitchen where she had once spent much of her time in making tea. She turned to look at the wall opposite the front door; there, she found the two doors that opened to the offices she once thought of as dark caves. She gave a sad smile as she remembered the past she had here – sad, because it was only in the past. _

_ With a sigh, she turned to her right to look at the desk she was all too acquainted with. She was surprised, though, when she saw a slightly younger version of herself looking through the bookshelf that sat to the left of the desk. She hadn't really changed much in appearance, she noted – her brown hair had grown only a couple inches and she had developed a bit more, but not noticeably._

_ She shook her head of these thoughts and focused on the task her younger self was working on. She seemed to be rearranging the books and looked as if she had already been doing it for quite some time – only one small stack of books remained to be put back on a shelf. The young girl picked a book off the stack and struggled as she deciphered the English words written on the cover, before carelessly leafing through the pages of the book. As she did this, something fell from the pages and hit the floor with a light clatter._

_ Curious, the young girl closed the book and sat it back down. She bent down to pick up the unfamiliar object and studied it. The older version of the girl looked on reluctantly as she recalled what had fallen from the book – an old photograph of a pair of shockingly familiar twins. She watched the variety of emotions play on face of the younger her as she slowly began to realize that one of those twins were, in fact, her very own boss._

_ It was almost difficult for her to recognize him, because – even though he looked like he was forcing a smile on his face – his cold, blue eyes seemed to be shining with a never-before-seen happiness as his arm wrapped around his ever cheerful brother's shoulders. His brother seemed familiar for an entirely different reason, however. Even through the photograph, his blue eyes held such amazing warmth and the big smile on his face would have given comfort to even the coldest of hearts. Maybe it was that smile that prompted her to walk over to her boss's office and knock on the door with a trembling hand._

_ "Do you need something, Mai?" the young man gave a seemingly uninterested response. The young girl hesitated, before taking a deep breath and continuing. _

_ "Ne, Naru," the young girl took that as an invitation to come in and opened the door. "Do you happen to have a brother, by any chance?" Her voice came out more nervous than she had intended. _

_ The older version of the said girl quickly closed her eyes and covered her ears with her hands – a childish action, she knew, but she couldn't bear to watch anymore. She could remember what happened that day very clearly – could recall the harsh words and distance her boss had placed between the two of them because of her careless questions. She didn't want to have to go through that all again. _

_ She was thankful when she felt herself being pulled away – she enjoyed the cold darkness of the strange void as she passed on through. When she opened her eyes again, though, she found herself watching another moment in her past – this time having flashed forward to only a couple of months later. She saw herself leaning with her back against a tree and her boss doing the same beside her. _

_ "What was his name?" she asked cautiously. She avoided looking at him. His eyes were colder and more distant than their usual; his face was void of any emotion. _

_ "Eugene," her boss said quietly, his voice matching his emotionless face. The young Mai nodded, thinking to herself that it seemed to fit. _

_ "I'm going to miss him," she murmured carelessly to herself. Her quiet companion's face crumpled in confusion and anger._

_ "What are you talking about?" he asked harshly – his anger now coloring his voice. The young girl noticed this and realized her mistake, but she wasn't going to feed off of his anger – he had every right to vent._

_ "Oh, apparently, he's been guiding me through my dreams," she explained quickly – not showing the sorrow that was bubbling just beneath the surface. "At first, I thought he was you, but I've started to realize, now, that that's not the case. But I assume that, now that he's finally been found, he'll be moving on - along with everyone else." _

_ The older Mai felt tears come to her eyes as she remembered how painful it was to say those words aloud. At that point, she had just learned that her boss was actually the famous Oliver Davis and that he had only come to Japan to retrieve his brother's body. She had barely come to terms with the fact that, now that his task was complete, he was heading back to England with his family – never to return again. _

_ "Hey, Naru, there's something else I need to tell you," the young Mai spoke up again after several moments passed in silence. He glanced at her with his distant eyes, telling her to continue; the anger that he had earlier seemed to have subsided. "I figure I'll never get another chance to tell you this," she paused to hesitate and take a deep breath, before continuing. "I really like you," she jumped away from the tree and looked into his now startled eyes. "And I'm really going to miss you when you're gone." _

_ The two stood staring at each other – neither one of them moving the slightest bit except to breathe. The young man seemed paralyzed in shock, but another emotion was taking over – a more sorrowful one. The young girl's cheeks were tinted red and she realized that that might not have been the best time to confess, but she honestly didn't believe that they would see one another again. _

_ "Well, that's all!" the girl broke the uncomfortable silence and looked away from the man's gaze. She turned her eyes to the pretty, yet haunting lake and gave a sad smile. "I guess this is goodbye."_

_ "There's something I have to ask," the man pushed himself off the tree and going to stand in front of her. She looked up at him, slightly surprised by the pain she had heard in his voice. "Is it me you really like? Or is it Gene?"_

_ Her expression was one of confusion, much to his dismay. Her brain couldn't seem to process the words he had just spoken – she had already had far too many bombshells dropped on her over the past couple of days. She could only faintly wonder what had prompted him to ask such a thing._

_ "Goodbye, Mai," he sighed. He reached up to touch her hair and then disappeared down the path they had just come from. She watched him, muddled, until she could no longer see his dark clothes among the green leaves. It was only then that the realization of what just passed dawned on her – she had been rejected._

_ The older Mai could only look on as the younger Mai went back to lean against the tree. She stared out into the lake, letting the tears fall undisturbed, and let the pain take its course. The older Mai had tears streaming down her own face as she had to turn away from the heartbreaking scene. _

_ When she turned, she caught a glimpse of black fabric hidden deep among the greenery. She started to walk towards it and came to an abrupt stop as she recognized the warm eyes that were now holding so much pain. "Gene."_

_ At first, she thought that she was still envisioning the past and that the dead twin had simply been there as a silent onlooker – and now maybe she was seeing what she had been too preoccupied to notice the first time. Then, his eyes met hers and he gave a sad, but still strangely comforting, smile. She frowned, not because she wasn't ecstatic to see the familiar young man, but because he should have moved on by now. _

_ "I'm sorry," he said quietly, causing the young woman to look up. She shook her head and smiled gently – she didn't blame him for anything. She watched relief flood through him as the world around them began to spin, stopping once they found themselves in the middle of an abandoned park. _

_ "Where are we?" Mai mused aloud as she took in the unfamiliar benches and trees. She entertained the thought that it seemed like a nice place for children to run around and play. She turned to Gene, who continued to smile and shook his head._

_ "Please, forgive us," Gene avoided her question and began to fade away. She ran towards him, calling out his name – she wasn't ready for him to leave yet, not again. "See you, soon!" his now cheerful voice echoed throughout the deserted park._

* * *

Mai opened her eyes to find a pair of dark grey eyes staring into hers intently. Straight, black hair fell into her face due to the little distance the owner of the grey eyes had left between the two. He quickly sat up and gave her a sheepish grin. Mai absentmindedly thought that he looked really weird without his glasses.

"You were crying in your sleep," the young man explained why he had been hovering over her. "I tried to wake you, but you wouldn't budge."

"Thanks, Yasu," the young woman yawned as she slowly sat up and stretched. She looked behind the man to steal a glance at the alarm clock on the bedside table. Sighing, she found that it was only four in the morning.

"Did you have another dream?" Yasu asked her quietly. He knew how gruesome some of her dreams could be. She smiled at him and nodded. "Do you want to talk about it?"

The young woman didn't hesitate as she began to explain her strange dream to her friend. She felt he deserved to know – he had been part of the group that found out her ex-boss was actually a famous psychic and had worked with them on a few cases before the SPR office closed down. Yasu didn't have any supernatural powers or much experience with the paranormal, but he was very smart and an amazing researcher.

Since the closing of SPR, though, he and Mai continued their close friendship. They eventually got an apartment together, finding it more economical than living alone. They both had school, Yasu taking college classes and Mai finishing up her senior year, and they both worked part-time.

Although he would never tell her, part of the reason he asked her to get an apartment with him was because of her weird dreams that still hadn't seemed to show signs of ceasing. When they would meet up after work, Mai would show up unusually exhausted. After Yasu had finally gotten it out of her that she was having trouble sleeping due to her nightmares, he formulated a plan. Of course, he had to come up with a good excuse to get her to agree, because she wouldn't have done it if she knew his real intentions.

Nights like this were frequent reminders of why he found it difficult to break from their anything but mundane life. He was relieved to see that the recent dream didn't seem to shake her too badly – she had been known to witness or even participate in some pretty horrific stuff while she was dreaming. As the young woman described the dream, however, he found his relief fading and irritation slowly taking its place.

Unlike the kindhearted girl who sat next him, he still hadn't found it in his heart to forgive their ex-boss for what he did. He had watched the painful process of her picking up pieces of her broken heart. She managed to bounce back rather quickly, but every once in a while he'd catch a glimpse of that old pain in her eyes.

"What do you think the reason is for you to dream about that?" Yasu asked. There was almost always a reason behind her dreams and usually it had something to do with helping some poor wandering spirit move on.

"I don't know," Mai shrugged her tired shoulders. "Maybe there was something I missed, some clue to help Gene finally move on or something."

"You don't think that it could possibly be a warning?" Yasu asked hesitantly, fearing the answer. "That maybe _they _are coming back?"

Mai pondered that for a split second, before shaking her head. She had long since given up the hope that they would return, it had been almost a year since they left. "Maybe, but I doubt it."

"Is this your intuition talking?" Yasu asked, hopeful. She had always had very strong intuition and it proved to be right most of the time. His hope dimmed, however, when the young woman grinned at him sheepishly and shook her head.

"Um, no, my intuition is currently very unclear," she sighed. Then, she glanced at the clock, only to sigh again; she had to be awake in a couple of hours for school. "We should go back to sleep."

"Do you want me to stay here?" he asked carefully. Mai shook her head and smiled gently at the young man.

"I'll be fine," she assured him. "I'm not upset or anything – just incredibly perplexed." Yasu gave her one last look-over, before going to climb in his own bed, which was just across the room from hers. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mai," he called out before she slipped into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

* * *

Hey! Fair warning here: this is my first fanfiction that I've done in years and I'm also a bit rusty on writing from the third person POV, but I hope that doesn't affect the story and that you enjoy it! (:

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt! I also do not own any song lyrics that are used.


	2. Dreams That I Live Through

"I sit alone and watch the clock

Trying to collect my thoughts

All I think about is you

And so I cry myself to sleep

And hope the devil I don't meet

In the dreams that I live through," - Staind

* * *

Mai woke up to the annoying sound of her alarm clock beeping in her ear. With a groan, she rolled over and turned it off. Her hand lingered for several moments as she lay there, debating on getting up or staying there. With a loud sigh, she slowly did the former.

As she made her way to the bathroom, with her clothes in hand, she faintly noticed that Yasu was already up and working in the kitchen. She quickly dressed and ran a brush through her hair, before going back out to join Yasu in the kitchen. She sat down at the table and watched Yasu sit a plate of pancakes in front of her, humming as he did so.

"Thank you," Mai smiled gratefully. "You seem to be in a good mood this morning." Yasu grinned as he took a seat next to her.

"Monk is going to be back at work, this afternoon," his grin turned mischievous as he spoke and suddenly Mai felt bad for their dear friend.

Monk had been one of their old co-workers at SPR. His real name was Hōshō Takigawa, but he had been given the nickname on the first case Mai had worked with him, since he was a Buddhist monk and all. From first glance, you wouldn't know that he was a monk; he had grown out his hair and wore relatively modern clothing. He said that he had left his sect because they didn't allow CDs on the mountain, but he was still able to perform rituals and such.

While working for SPR, he juggled working as a monk and playing the bass in a popular rock band. Since SPR's closure, he decided to also get a job at a music store that wasn't too far from where Mai and Yasu lived. After class, Yasu would join Monk to work at the store.

Monk hadn't been at work for a couple of weeks, because he had been away on his honeymoon. He had recently married his former co-worker, Ayako Matsuzaki. They had met due to a case with SPR and their relationship continued to grow from there. They fought like cats and dogs, but it somehow suited them.

Ayako was a self-styled Shinto priestess, but her abilities weren't really worth much unless there were usable trees nearby. She was a great doctor, though, following in her parents footsteps and working at their hospital when she wasn't using her abilities as a priestess. Mai looked to both she and Monk as part of her little make-shift family that had formed during the days of SPR.

She was overjoyed when the two announced their engagement and was more than happy to be a bridesmaid in their wedding. Now that they were back from their honeymoon, Mai had a feeling that there was going to be a dinner invitation in the near future. The four of them usually met up at least once every two weeks or so – just to catch up and goof off together, like they used to do.

"Don't tease him too hard," Mai warned Yasu, seeing the evil glint in his eyes, behind his glasses. "Or at the very least, give them a few more days of wedding bliss before tormenting them to the brink of insanity."

"I am appalled!" Yasu put on a face of complete innocence and shock. "How lowly you see me – to go so far as to even think that I would do such a thing!"

"Funny," Mai rolled her eyes and giggled a bit. "That was very convincing, too. For a second, I almost believed you." Yasu was the one to roll his eyes, this time; her sarcasm caused him to sigh, but then he quickly grinned at her.

"Do you enjoy the pancakes?" he asked as he watched her take her last few bites. She nodded as she swallowed and wiped her face with a napkin.

"Yes, thank you. They were delicious," she grinned as she got up to place her dishes in the sink. "I have to go, but don't worry about the dishes; I'll do them when I get home from work." Behind her back, Yasu rolled his eyes.

"Yes, ma'am," Yasu shook his head and grinned – they both knew that he wasn't going to leave them. Mai turned around to give him a playful glare and his grin only grew. "See you later, Mai. Have fun!"

"Fun!" she groaned, not seeing where fun fit into the equation of school and work. Then, she grinned. "You have fun, too. Tell Monk that I said, 'Hi'!"

"I will," he promised. She gave him one last smile, before grabbing her book bag and heading out the door. As she left, she caught a glimpse of him shaking his head and grinning.

As usual, Mai hadn't left much time for the walk to school and had to rush as she made her way through the customarily empty apartment building. Inside the apartment building, everything had been redecorated and reconstructed so that the building was safe and attractive to live in. On the outside, however, it looked old and abandoned – almost as if it was haunted. This didn't bother Mai and Yasu, of course, as they had worked in the ghost hunting business with SPR, but other prospective residents didn't seem to feel as secure.

People's lack of interest in the building didn't really bother the two lone residents; they kind of enjoyed the privacy. It was very rare to see anyone in the parking lot, only Yasu's car and occasionally the owner's car frequented the lot. That was why Mai found it odd when she passed by and saw two unknown vehicles, a black car and a black van, parked there.

The van gave Mai a weird sense of familiarity and her mind automatically went back to the days of SPR. The company had a van similar to the one she saw; they would use it to carry the very expensive equipment while on cases. Mai paused in her step and turned to stare at the van with her heart somewhere in her throat. Her thoughts went to her old boss.

_Get real, Mai, _she chastised herself. _That would never happen – that's probably just some random van. Maybe, someone's moving into one of the apartments and they needed something to put all their furniture and stuff in._

She convinced herself of that and quickly continued her journey to school. She had to run, now, having lost more precious time in her curiosity. She reached her classroom just as the bell rang and then collapsed in her desk chair. The students all turned to look at her, but she just smiled at them weakly and worked on trying to catch her breath.

* * *

Classes passed by in a blur and Mai soon found herself at work. She worked at a cute little tea shop not too far from the music store where Monk and Yasu worked. The shop was called The Tea Party, named after the incident during the American Revolution; Mai always wondered why it was named that when it was a tea shop in Japan, but she had heard rumors that the owner was a bit of an oddity and shrugged it off as such. Her job was to serve the customers and, on occasion, the shop's manager would have her deliver boxes of the shop's famous brand of tea leaves.

She had just finished serving a mother and son pair, when she took a quick break, leaning against the glass counter they had near the back of the shop. She smiled along with the mother as they both watched the young boy take a big bite of cake – his two year old face lighting up in delight as the sweet taste filled his mouth. As Mai watched the scene before her, she felt a faint tugging sensation before her vision began to blur.

_ When Mai could see clearly again, she found herself smiling down at a little boy with sparkling, green eyes. She watched as he enjoyed a piece of chocolate cake – getting most of it on his face. "Happy second birthday, Hotaru!" Mai heard herself say. The boy turned to Mai and gave a big, chocolate covered grin. _

_ Then, the scene warped and Mai found herself running. In her arms, she held the little boy tightly. Fear and adrenaline pumped through her veins as she came across a park. Mai recognized it as the park that she had seen Gene in during her last dream. _

_ "I'm so sorry," Mai found herself sobbing as she placed the frightened young boy on one of the park benches. "I need you to stay here, okay? Please, Hotaru, be a good boy and stay here."_

_ "Mommy," the boy cried out, wrapping his small arms around the Mai's neck. The tears streaming down her face were making it difficult to see._

_ "Stay here, okay?" Mai released herself from the boy's hold. "I'll be back soon," she lied. "But if I'm not, someone will come to get you and take care of you, okay? I love you!"_

_ Mai placed a kiss on the boy's head, before running out of the park – before running away from her life. She ran through the deep forest, stopping only when she came to a paved road. Across the paved road, there was the edge of a cliff that only had some guard-rail keeping people from falling off. _

Am I going to jump? _Mai wondered as she slowed. She looked around and saw a black car parked near a small opening among the trees. She took a deep breath and walked up to the vehicle. _I don't have a good feeling about this. . .

_As she approached the car, a man dressed in all black stepped out of it. He held some metal object in his hand and Mai's eyes widened as she realized that it was a gun. Her eyes flickered to the merciless eyes of the man. _

_ "You're alone," the man said in a gruff voice as he continued to walk closer to the now frozen Mai. "You're a smart woman." Then, without warning, he pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger. _

Mai gave a small gasp and automatically shrunk back. She backed up into the glass counter and her eyes widened as she found herself back in the tea shop; pain dully pulsed in her left shoulder from where the bullet had hit her in the dream. One of her co-workers stood in front of her, snapping her fingers in front of her face, as Mai just blinked at her.

"Oh, good," the young woman in front of her said sarcastically. "I'm so glad you're back to earth, Taniyama-san! You better get your act together; the manager wants you."

Mai slowly nodded and started to walk into the back room of the tea shop, where the merchandise was kept and the manager's office resided. As she walked, she brought her right hand up to her shoulder to check for any injuries. She pulled her hand back and was satisfied when she didn't find any blood or feel any bullets and the pain was soon starting to fade.

She walked into the manager's office and found her at her desk, talking on the phone. She looked around the messy office and tried to keep her thoughts from wandering to that strange vision. The walls were lined with crudely made shelves that held all kinds of books, paperwork, and different boxes of tea. When that didn't keep Mai's mind occupied well enough, she turned to look at her manager.

The manager had straight, dark hair that came to her waist when she was standing. Her black eyes were extremely focused on the words that her pale, thin hand was writing on a notepad. "Yes, ma'am," she spoke into the phone. "We'll get your order to you right away! Have a nice day!" She hung up the phone and continued to stare at the words on the notepad with slight frustration.

"Um, Emi-san," Mai cleared her throat. She started to wonder if maybe she was going to get fired – she _had_ just been spacing out in the middle of work. "Is there something you need?"

"Taniyama-san," the woman looked up in surprise. "Um, yes – we have a few delivery stops and I was really hoping you wouldn't mind taking care of them before going home."

"Sure thing, boss!" Mai said automatically with a grin. Emi-san grinned back, but Mai internally froze; that was something she used to say to her old boss. She mentally shook that thought off, though, as the manager handed her a list of addresses.

* * *

**A/N: **Hey, thank you so much for reading! I'm really glad that you've seemed to enjoy it so far and I hope you continue to. ^_^

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt nor do I own the song lyrics.


	3. Secrets That I Have Seen

"Bring me home in a blinding dream,

Through the secrets that I have seen,

Wash the sorrow from off my skin

And show me how to be whole again," – Linkin Park

* * *

Mai stood in front of a half wooden, half glass door and stared at the directions she held in her hand. She desperately wanted it to be a mistake, but the more she looked at it, the more she was sure she was at the right place. She looked back up at the door; the black lettering on the glass mocking her and reminding her of the past.

Sighing, she worked on ignoring the "SPR" staring her down and knocked on the door of her last delivery. While she waited for a response, she worked on putting a smile on her face. After a moment, a woman with greying hair opened the door and peeked out. Mai took one look into her kind, blue eyes and her smile became relaxed automatically.

"Hi, I'm Taniyama from the Tea Party," Mai introduced herself. "I have an order for a Martin Davis." She looked down at her paper to be sure. Her eyes widened slightly at the name.

She had recently been contacted by a Martin Davis via email. He had watched a video of Mai exercising her strange gifts on a case with her friend and old co-worker, Masako Hara. Masako was a famous medium that helped SPR on many cases and even had her own television show.

Mai and Masako hadn't always been the best of friends during their time with SPR, but after the company disbanded, the two put their differences aside and became really close. Masako had even invited Mai to join her on a case in America. She claimed that it was because she wanted to make up for not telling the girl the truth about their boss, but in reality she just missed her.

Mai had readily agreed, not wanting to miss the chance to hang out with her friend and also to go to America. She had never left Japan and she was excited to test out her English skills that she and Yasu had been working on. Masako didn't inform her, however, that the case was going to be filmed.

The footage of the case wasn't exactly 'mainstream', so it didn't affect Mai much in her daily life, but it was pretty well known among the paranormal researching world. Mr. Davis had seen it and wanted to know more about the girl who could see visions of death. He offered to her an all-expense-paid trip to England, but the catch was that she would have to stay for months – possibly even years – as they researched her abilities.

Mai had honestly thought it over; she even researched the company Mr. Davis mentioned, Society for Paranormal Research. She looked up Mr. Davis himself, but quickly stopped when she came across a photo of him with his two sons and realized why the name 'Davis' seemed so familiar – he was the father of her ex-boss. She kept all the information inside for days as she wrestled with finding an answer and eventually came up with one.

She politely declined the professor's offer and thought nothing else of it as she went about her normal life. Later that night, she had been surprised to find an email asking the reasoning behind her response. She tried her best to explain that she couldn't bear to leave her family and that it wasn't meant as a slight to him or his society.

_"I understand now, Miss Taniyama," _the professor replied. _"Hold on to your loved ones tightly and don't ever let them slip away."_

That was the last she had heard from the man. She felt slightly guilty as she read the words, thinking that maybe he had been thinking about his late son, Eugene. She sent him one last cheerful message saying that she planned on doing just that.

**"Did I put that in Martin's name?" **the woman in front of her pondered to herself – she spoke in English. Then, she switched to Japanese when she spoke to Mai. "I'm Luella, Martin's wife."

"Here's your order, Mrs. Davis," Mai put on her best business smile as she handed the boxes over to the woman. The woman eyed Mai carefully as she took the boxes from her hands.

"Miss Taniyama," Luella addressed her warmly, causing Mai to look her straight in the eyes. They seemed worried. "You look a little pale, darling. Do you want to come inside for and rest for a little bit?"

"That's okay, ma'am," Mai said quickly, she wasn't sure if she could handle seeing the inside of her old workplace. She was having a hard enough time with just the door. As much as she hated to, she was going to have to lie. "Thank you, but I have quite a few orders to get done and I should probably get going in I want to make it home at a reasonable time. Have a nice day!" She sent one last grin the woman's way, before waving and sprinting as far away from the place as possible.

**"Strange girl," **the woman muttered to herself as she shut the door. Then, she smiled – there was just something about that girl that comforted her and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

**"What are you smiling about over there, mother?" **a young man with black hair and wearing all black asked with a small smirk. He loved his mother's amusing habits.

**"Taniyama, she said her name was," **the woman answered, causing the young man to pause in his task. He held a book in one hand, hovering in front of the bookshelf. **"Is something wrong, Noll?" **Luella watched her son curiously.

**"No," **the man said a little too quickly as he shook himself off. **"There's nothing wrong." **He continued to fill the bookshelf with a far-away look in his cold, blue eyes.

**"I hope that girl's alright," **Luella mused anxiously, oblivious to her son's sudden interest in the window behind the desk. **"She looked rather pale – almost as if she had just seen a ghost." **

* * *

Mai ran blindly, tears were falling heavily and she had to stop, falling to her knees where she stood. She didn't really pay much attention to her surroundings. Her vision was blurred and her mind was filled with so many memories and theories. She tried to separate herself from the pain and make sense of what she saw.

_There's no way, _she argued with herself. _He would never come back! He only came here for one reason in the first place and now that reason's gone. _

Then, Mai started to reason with herself. She wasn't sure, but she figured that there had to be many people by the name of Martin Davis – for all she knew, that could be a popular name in England. Maybe, this Martin Davis wasn't the same on as the father of Naru and Gene. Maybe, it was just pure coincidence that he and his wife ended up at the old office of Oliver Davis.

"I'm such an idiot," Mai murmured angrily to herself. _I let myself get so worked up over something that probably hasn't even happened._

Then, her mind went to the people that cared for her – her make-shift family. If she was too late getting home, Yasu would probably get worried. He'd probably call Monk and Ayako and they would probably alert the police and every news station within a hundred mile radius.

_What am I doing here? _Mai question herself as she stood up with newfound hope. _I have people who care about me – I don't have time to worry about the past. _

Now that her mood was lifted, she finally took notice of her surroundings. She found herself in a park – the same park as the one in her visions. She felt uneasy as she cautiously looked around. She noticed that, even though it was the middle of spring, the air had become unusually cold.

_"Where's my son?" _Mai whipped her head around, trying to find the source of the angry woman's voice. _"Give me my son! He's mine; give him back!"_

Mai was torn between wanting to help the desperate spirit and saving her own skin. For once, her self-preservation won out and she quickly ran out of the park. She ran all the way to the apartment building – not bothering to glance at the condemned SPR office or the curious onlookers as she passed.

When she reached the door to her apartment, she looked frantically for her key in her book bag; she suddenly craved the comfort of home. She looked for several moments before the dawning realization hit her – she had left her key in the pocket of her jacket that was currently residing on a hook inside the apartment. With a groan of frustration, she fell to her knees in front of the door.

With a sigh, she turned and sat with her back against the wall beside the door. She stared at the apartment door opposite her own and somehow got the feeling that is wasn't as empty as it had been the day before. As she sat still, her heart beat slowly returned to normal and the adrenaline from before quickly faded, leaving her exhausted. She had one last thought about calling Yasu before she fell asleep.

* * *

**"Noll," **Luella addressed her son as they made their way to the apartment building they were staying at. **"Do you know ****_when _****everyone else is supposed to arrive? I think your father might have told me, but I honestly can't recall." **

** "He said that they would be here soon," **the young man rolled his eyes at his mother's antics. **"They still have a bunch of work they have to do before they can join us." **

** "It's really a pity that Kōujo couldn't have joined us," **the mother continued to talk, despite her son's obvious lack of interest. **"Madoka's probably very lonely, all by herself in that big apartment." **

** "I'm sure she's doing just fine, mother," **Noll assured the woman as they made their way past the building's lobby and entered the hallway that led to their apartment. The woman let the conversation drop as they walked a little bit further.

**"Oh my," **she cried out suddenly, stopping in her tracks. Her son looked at her curiously, before turning to see what had his mother so concerned.

The body of an unconscious woman sat across from where their apartment door was. The small, pale form with the brown hair seemed so familiar that Noll quickly went to her side without much thought. He looked her over, placing his fingers on her wrist and then a hand on her forehead.

**"She's breathing and her pulse is steady," **he said quietly – he seemed to be trying to assure himself more than he was the frightened lady behind him. **"I think she's running a low fever." **

** "Thank goodness!" **Luella exclaimed as Noll stood up and stared down at the unconscious girl with a strange look coming across his face. Luella walked over to stand by her son, now that she knew that she wasn't looking at a corpse. **"Ah, she's the girl from earlier – Taniyama. Why on earth would she be out here, all alone?" **

** "That's a good question," **Noll tore his eyes away from the girl and looked at the hallway around them. He had been under the impression that the apartment building didn't have a lot of residents, so that only added to his surprise of finding that particular girl in the hallway.

**"Maybe she's waiting for someone," **Luella suggested. **"I did see a young man come out of that apartment, earlier this morning." **Noll's eyes narrowed at that suggestion. The idea that she was waiting alone, for a guy, didn't seem to sit well with him.

**"Well, we can't just leave her here," **Noll sighed. His mother noticed his frustration, but she quickly wrote if off as he probably viewed this situation as an inconvenience – and she knew how much he disliked inconveniences.

**"We can take her into our apartment," **Noll had actually considered this, but fear kept him from picking up the girl and carrying her there. **"Then, when she wakes up, she can tell us where her family lives and we can take her there." **

Noll froze at this – if she woke up, she would recognize him. The question was, though, when she saw him, would she hate him? They hadn't exactly parted under the best of circumstances. Would she hold a grudge against him for the words he spoke that day?

Then, he recalled something else – the girl in front of him was an orphan. She had no parents, no relatives, and he didn't know if she was still in contact with any of her old friends. For all he knew, she had absolutely no one to contact.

Worry for the girl overruled his fear and he bent back down, getting ready to pick the girl up. Then, footsteps were heard coming down the hallway – coming straight at them. The footsteps came to a halt and a small gasp was heard.

Noll sighed and turned to look at the new arrival. He was surprised when he saw the young man with straight, black hair, his dark grey eyes hidden behind his glasses. The concern he held for the girl was written all over his face. "Osamu Yasuhara."

"Naru," surprise colored the young man's voice. He stared at his old boss indifferently, he wasn't sure he was too happy that he was back. Then, he got back on a more pressing matter, "What's wrong with Mai?"

"She was unconscious when I got here," Naru answered, standing up again. Yasu nodded and walked up to the girl. "She's running a bit of a fever." Naru eyed the other man accusingly, as if he thought he hadn't taken very good care of the girl.

"Thank you, Shibuya," Yasu referred to him by his alias and shook his hand. "And you as well, Mrs. Davis. I've got it from here." He then moved around everyone to unlock and open the apartment door. He worked on gently picking up the slumbering girl.

"Yasu," Mai moaned. The man stopped for a moment as the young woman wrapped her arms around his neck, not fully aware of what was going on in her half-asleep state. "I had an awful nightmare."

"You can tell me all about it when we get inside," Yasu said calmly, with a slight chuckle, as he tried his best not to call unwanted attention to their audience.

"We're not in the apartment? Did I pass out in the hallway?" Yasu answered her questions quietly as she never even opened her eyes to see for herself. She groaned, "Then, it wasn't a nightmare – it was all real." Yasu put his arms under her small body and worked on carrying her into their home. "I'm sorry, Yasu."

"Don't worry about it," Yasu whispered as the girl soon fell back asleep in his arms. He went inside to lay the girl on the couch and then went back to grab her bag and close the door – he avoided looking at the mother and son pair the whole time.

**"Were those people friends of yours?" **Luella asked after an awkward moment of silence had passed. She had watched the exchange with slight amusement, not missing the fact that they seemed to know on another.

**"They used to work for me," **Noll answered simply. Luella noticed that his eyes had taken a on a far-away look and the air had gotten tense around them.

**"I'm going to check in with Madoka," **she said nervously, deciding that it would be best to leave him alone to think. She soon left once she realized that she wasn't going to get any acknowledgement from her son. Noll stood there for a moment longer, staring at the closed door with no emotion on his face, before turning around and entering his own apartment. 

* * *

**A/N: **You guys are awesome! Thank you for reading and reviewing!

Disclaimer: I still do not own Ghost Hunt or any lyrics used.


	4. Out of Reach

"It's carved into my mind

I was here,

You were out of reach

Still, somehow scars my memory

Though I'm still here

Though I'm always behind I need to know

Will I do right this time?" – Plan Three

* * *

Mai stared at the light coming through the bedroom window. She could hear Yasu's light snoring and felt the weight of his arm across her waist. She couldn't recall how they had ended up in her bed – she couldn't remember anything after she sat down in front of the apartment.

She did remember having a weird dream where her ex-boss had been speaking with a woman – their words were in English. Mai could make out that they were concerned for someone, but the dream kept cutting in and out and wasn't like her normal dreams in the least bit. Her thoughts wandered to her normal dreams and she sighed quietly.

The day before, she had been pulled into a vision just by watching some boy eat cake. She didn't pass out first; she just spaced out. It wasn't the first time she had a random vision that vaguely related to something she was witnessing or an object she was using in the present time, but it still concerned her. She feared that if it kept happening, it could become dangerous and make it difficult for her to function in everyday life.

She also couldn't get her mind off the woman from the vision. She had felt the pain and sorrow the woman had felt; she continued to feel it as she lay there. It suffocated her and she started to sympathize with Masako, who could feel everything a nearby spirit felt.

The woman's situation weighed heavily on her heart and she had a great desire to help. She didn't trust in her own abilities enough to think she could take the case on by herself. She debated on bothering the old gang to help her – well, most of the old gang.

Even though she was beyond blessed to still have Ayako, Monk, Yasu, and - on occasion – Masako in her life, she still missed some of the other members that she didn't see as often. She missed quiet, gentle John Brown – the group's twenty-year old Catholic priest. He didn't get to visit as often as the others – his line of work rarely brought him their direction.

She also missed the ever quiet Chinese man, Lin Kōujo, the onmyoji of the group. He was actually part of the reason she got the job in the first place, even if indirectly so. SPR had taken a case from Mai's principal; the case was to investigate an old, abandoned school building.

Mai had heard the rumors that the building was haunted and had wandered off into it. She had been curious about a camera that had been placed inside, but when she went to get a closer look, Lin called out a warning and scared her. She ended up backing up into an unstable shelf and it would have fallen on top of her had the Chinese man not pushed her out of the way.

His bravery had gotten him injured, though, and Mai had been hired as a temporary replacement. Mai had enjoyed the case where she had met all the strange and wonderful people she now considered family and was ecstatic when she had been hired full-time. Her relationship with Lin had stayed strained, however, for most of their acquaintance.

It hadn't actually let up much until one of their last cases together. They had been investigating a creepy mansion – Mai had finally confronted the man about his cold attitude towards her and he confessed that he held a grudge against the Japanese for what they had done to his home country in the past. She told him that it was wrong to hate an individual for what their ancestors did. He actually started _laughing_ and admitted that he had been told something similar by a close friend – that friend had turned out to be Eugene Davis.

Gene – Mai couldn't help but miss the gentle young man who had guided her through many nightmares. His warmth and quiet ways had been comforting to her, even though she never got the chance to really know him. Sometimes, she wished she had gotten to know who he really was sooner; she wished she could have really talked to him instead of them just following whatever dream they were subjected to. But it hadn't worked out that way and now he was gone from her dreams – and he took Naru along with him.

Naru, Noll, Kazuya Shibuya, Oliver Davis – he was a man of many names. He was handsome, smart, and confident; he turned heads and broke hearts everywhere he went, but he wasn't too concerned with those sort of trivial things. He only had his eyes on one thing – finding his brother's body. He had actually experienced the same traumatic death of his brother via his psychic abilities.

He had felt the woman's car run over him; felt the ground beneath his broken bones as the woman dragged his body into the river. Tears filled Mai's eyes as she thought about it – she had felt the same thing herself when they had arrived to the lake. She could still recall the suffocating feeling of the water on her chest as she struggled to move – her struggle all in vain.

Mai could sympathize with Naru. She could understand why he could be so cold and distant; he had seen so much and even lost the one person he could share everything with – the one who could take the load off of his shoulders a little bit. Mai knew all this and she could see his reasoning for never returning to Japan – who would want to stay in the place where his brother was murdered? But despite all this, she still couldn't help but miss the slightly narcissistic man.

The young girl groaned quietly in frustration; she hadn't meant to let her thoughts wander that far off. She had to work so hard on keeping the people of her past out of her mind. Last night's weird dream and the run in with Luella Davis, however, had thrown all her hard work out the window. She heaved a sigh just before she felt a hand reach up to wipe the tears from her eyes.

She turned to stare into dark grey eyes filled with concern. She faintly noticed that the weight on her waist had been lifted as the young man began to caress her cheek carefully. Mai hated the fact that she worried him again, but she had yet to find the strength to assure him that she was fine.

"Did you have another dream?" Yasu asked as the two sat up in the bed. Mai shook her head wearily. He sighed as he pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. She was glad that he couldn't see her face – she was sure that it would give away her discomfort with the situation. "What happened yesterday? You looked exhausted."

Even if Mai was slightly uncomfortable with the physical contact that Yasu seemed to enjoy keeping, she wasn't shy when it came to talking to the young man. She failed to mention the new vehicles she had seen in the parking lot, but instead started her story with the vision she had at work. She carefully ignored his grip tighten around her as she explained her incident with the mysterious Luella Davis and the freak out that ensued afterwards.

She was careful to not talk too much on that and instead tried to bring his attention to the incident in the park. He pretended not to notice this as she jumped into her description of the area. He listened as she focused on trying to remember the exact layout – trying to keep her mind from going where his had already wandered off to.

He knew that Luella's arrival hadn't been pure coincidence, but he didn't have the heart to say it to the obviously freaked out girl in his arms. He knew that she would eventually find out about their narcissistic ex-boss's return, but he wasn't sure if either of them were ready for that. He could recall the pain he used to see so frequently cross the girl's face; he wasn't going to let that happen again.

"Did you get the name of the park?" Yasu asked, returning his thoughts to the present discussion. He had already guessed, from the way Mai was so passionate about describing the haunt, that she had already become emotionally involved in it and that they would have to do something before it got too out of hand.

"No," Mai answered sheepishly. "I didn't really think about that; I didn't really think much about the park until after I started running."

"Don't worry about it," Yasu spoke cheerfully, ignoring the way she automatically stiffened when he kissed her cheek. "We'll figure it out."

"You're right!" she grinned, her mood having successfully brightened. "Thank you – I don't know what I'd do without you, Yasu." He tightened his hold on her as his smile tightened as well.

"I'll talk to Monk about it at work and see what his thoughts are," Yasu continued before she could notice his sudden change.

"I hope we can help her," Mai murmured, her thoughts having wandered back to the motherly ghost. "She seemed so desperate – searching for her son."

"We'll help her," Yasu assured the worried woman. "With my awesome research skills and your abilities, we'll have this solved in no time."

"And don't forget your never ending modesty," Mai rolled her eyes and grinned. Mai slipped out of Yasu's grasp, much to his dismay, and stood in the middle of the room, facing Yasu.

"Doubtlessly," Yasu faked an innocent expression, hiding his disappointment. Mai grinned wider, only to have it fall when she looked at the clock.

"We slept in," she stated, frowning. "I've missed school and you missed your first class. We should probably get ready if you don't want to miss any more."

"I'll be fine," Yasu shrugged. "You didn't have any tests today, did you?" It was the middle of spring and the end of the semester was just around the bend. Since she was a senior, she had a ton of tests coming up soon.

"No," Mai answered, still frowning at the clock. "Testing doesn't start until next week." She shrugged, before turning back to Yasu with a grin. "You, however, have an English final."

Yasu reluctantly got out of bed, scowling at the fact that she had actually remembered that. She had so many other things on her mind and yet she still knew when he had finals coming up. But that was part of the reason he had come to love the young woman, because she truly cared for people and wanted to do the best she could for them – even if that meant putting herself in harm's way.

He could recall countless times when she had risked her life for a friend or even just some hopeless ghost they had happened across. He had hoped that they would be able to figure out this case before anything like that happened, though. He was always frustrated when cases like this arrived, because if something bad did happen to her, he was powerless when it came to saving her.

As if he needed another reason to be jealous of their old boss – he always felt insignificant when it came to Naru, who could always keep Mai from killing herself on cases. He had been told that Naru had used his powers to keep her from injuring herself on concrete when she fell into a well once. Yasu had even witnessed one of Naru's heroic events himself, on the very case where he had met SPR.

SPR had taken a case at the high school Yasu used to attend. There had been an unusual amount of paranormal activity due to a death curse that was directed towards a really mean teacher. The curse had brought many spirits via a popular spirit-summoning game that the students had enjoyed.

Naru and Lin had prevented the death of the teacher by reversing the curse back onto the students who had inadvertently participated in the curse by playing the game. He had gotten in a lot of trouble with Mai for that, but what he didn't tell her was that he actually had prepared hitogata (kind of like straw-effigy dolls) to take the brunt of the curse, so no students were harmed in the end. But before they had reversed the curse and cleansed the school, the spirits that haunted the place had caused a ceiling to cave in one of the rooms that Mai was residing. Naru had once again saved the day and shielded her from the attack, using himself as the shield.

Yasu agreed to pose as Naru for another case where he didn't want to take part in the media attention the case had attracted. Turns out they had taken the case to expose the man who had come claiming that _he _was the great Oliver Davis, but Yasu didn't really mind the reason. He was simply happy that he had gotten to spend more time with the people he had become friends with during the case at his school.

Yasu wasn't actually too thrilled when he had gotten the call from Naru, but the thought of seeing everyone else ruled over his unexplainable animosity toward the young man. Despite his jealousy, he found one thing he could thank the narcissistic man for. He could thank him for bringing such amazing people into his life.

As he walked out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel as he went, and entered the kitchen, he couldn't help the smile that came across his face as he watched one of those amazing people. Mai was working on re-creating the food that Yasu had made the morning before. She had gotten the recipe right, but she couldn't seem to get the pancake out of the pan without it wrinkling.

"Smells good," Yasu commented, announcing his presence. Mai glanced over at him with a sheepish smile playing on her lips.

"I can't seem to get them as pretty as yours," she admitted ruefully. He grinned as he stole some from the plate of finished pancakes and plopped them onto his plate, before smothering them with maple syrup.

"I'm sure they taste wonderful," he assured the girl as he took a bite. He mumbled something about them tasting good through a mouth full of food, which earned him an eye roll. They both knew that he would probably eat them all, even if it hadn't been edible. "So, what are you going to do while I'm at class?"

"I'll probably just clean up the house," Mai answered as she finished up the last of the pancakes and sat next to Yasu. "We have some laundry that needs done."

"You sure you don't need help?" Yasu asked hopefully before scarfing down the last of his food. Mai paused to watch him for a moment.

"I'll be fine," she shrugged and grinned. "And I don't want to be the reason you start slacking off on your education."

"Fine; fine," the young man sighed, fighting off a grin. He stood up and placed his dishes in the sink before turning back to Mai – the grin he was fighting having won. "Be careful, okay?"

"Always," Mai stood up straight and her eyes dared him to contradict that as a smile played on her lips. "You be careful, too. Don't forget to talk to Monk, either."

"I won't," he walked over to the coffee table in the living room to grab his laptop case. He turned to wave at the young woman who was still smiling at him from the table in the kitchen. "See you at dinner."

"See you, then," He heard Mai's cheerful reply before he walked out into the hallway. He quickly shut the door behind him and looked up into a pair of cold, blue eyes.

At first glance, the eyes were frustrated. Then, they held a hint of surprise, before simply revealing the man's irritation. The raven haired man forced a smile as Yasu did the same. Yasu kept a tight grip on the door handle to his apartment, as if that would somehow keep the secret hidden.

"Shibuya," Yasu feigned cheerful excitement. "What brings you back here? Are you going to stay for good?" He tried to sound merely curious, but it was difficult to keep the warning tone from coloring his voice.

"I'm here to re-open the office," Naru answered emotionlessly. If he had caught on to Yasu's displeasure, he didn't acknowledge it. "Yes, I plan to stay here for a _very _long time." Yasu's eyes narrowed slightly as he heard the threat so evident in his old boss's voice.

"So, you're biting at the bit to be a Big Boss again, huh?" Yasu teased instead of retaliating. He wasn't going to let the narcissistic man intimidate him.

"You could say that," Naru's voice revealed his boredom with the mundane chit-chat that Yasu was keeping up. He decided to get down to business, "What do you say about coming back to work as a researcher for SPR?"

Yasu's jaw clenched. He had figured that something like this was going to happen eventually, but he still wasn't too thrilled with the prospect. Even so, he plastered on another smile and looked at the businessman in front of him. "That's something I'll have to discuss with my family, sir."

Naru's eyes widened just a fraction, the only thing exposing his surprise. He quickly regained his full composure, however. "I understand – let me know when you've reached your decision." Then, with a farewell nod of the head, he turned and disappeared down the hallway.

"That was something," Yasu murmured to himself. He let his hand drop from the door handle and ran it through his hair. "Now, what do I do?"

* * *

**AN: **Hey, sorry for the wait! And I'm sorry if this chapter's a little boring. It's mostly introductions, but I felt like it was necessary.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt nor do I own song lyrics.


	5. Just Enjoy the Dance

"In many ways I guess I'll never let you go.

I'm close behind but I've got room here left to grow,

Until our second chance, just enjoy the dance, and find out who we are

(These dreams will never leave you)," – Avenged Sevenfold

* * *

Mai stared down into the toilet bowl. She gripped the cleaner wand in one hand and the Clorox in the other. In her mind, the water rippled as an image started to become clear on the surface. There was a wooden sign, partially hidden by trees.

"Rosewood Park"

Mai pulled back with a gasp and the image disappeared. She looked back into the porcelain throne, before shaking her head and giving a nervous laugh. She tried to convince herself that she had imagined it, but something told her that the sign was important. With a sigh, she continued to clean the bathroom.

Once she was done with that, she grabbed a pen and a notepad. She headed to the living room and flopped down on the couch, writing the mysterious words as she went. Now, she was convinced that _if_ it really did mean something, then it had to be the name of the park where she had met the ghost woman.

She reluctantly pulled out the cell-phone that Ayako and Monk had forced on her almost a year ago. She pulled up her contacts and scrolled until she found the one she was looking for. She knew he'd probably be at work by now.

_Yasu, I think I found out the name of the park, _she sent.

_Really? What is it? _Yasu's response was almost instantaneous.

_Rosewood Park, _she replied, sighing as she leaned back into the soft cushions of the couch.

_How did you find this out? _Mai could almost see him raising an eyebrow at her as if he thought she had gone back to the park alone.

_I was cleaning the toilet! _Mai giggled a little as she hit send – she wished she could see the confused look on his face.

_I'll have to ask you more about that later. I'll see if I can't research the park during the slow moments at work, _Mai sighed at the prospect of trying to explain something she wasn't even really sure how it happened.

_Thanks, Yasu! _She sent instead.

_No problem, boss! _Mai imagined the mischievous grin that Yasu was wearing as she sent that – and she frowned.

_Funny. . . _ Mai sent in response to his unwelcome nickname. She couldn't help but smile at the little smiley face she got in return, though. Putting her phone away and taking a deep breath, she got up to go do some laundry.

Halfway to the laundry room, she heard a knock on the door. She turned around to stare at the door for a moment in curiosity, they rarely got visitors and almost never at this time of day. She cautiously went to door and opened it up.

Behind the door stood a young man with blond hair and little boy with dark brown hair. Mai immediately recognized the young man as the twenty year old, Australian priest. Even though she was pretty sure she had never met the little boy, he also seemed extremely familiar.

"John," Mai exclaimed, a grin lighting up her face. "What a surprise! Why don't you guys come in and have something to drink?"

"It's been far too long, Mai," the young man said with a warm smile as he entered the home. Mai motioned for the two to sit on the couch.

"It has been," Mai agreed wholeheartedly. Mai glanced at the little boy and she smiled kindly. "Hi, I'm Mai – it's nice to meet you."

"I'm Hotaru," the boy said quietly, unable to meet Mai's warm eyes. "The pleasure is all mine, ma'am." Mai's smile widened at his shy politeness.

"Would you like some juice?" He gave a small nod. Mai looked back to John and was going to ask what he wanted to drink when John spoke up.

"Hotoru, why don't you wait here for a moment, while Miss Mai and I talk outside?" the boy nodded at the priest's request and Mai hurried to get the boy a juice box. She handed him the television remote as they passed, so he wouldn't get bored while they were out.

With one last glance at the little boy, the two made their way out the door and into the hallway. John timidly looked at the ground as Mai carefully closed the door behind her. She turned to smile compassionately at the nervous man.

"So, what's up?" Mai looked up into startled, light blue eyes. "What's brought you to our humble abode? Don't get me wrong, I love having you here – I'm just a little bit curious. This seems to be more than just a friendly visit." She grinned unapologetically.

"I do have a reason other than just to visit," John admitted sheepishly. "I actually have a job near here. Do you know the Catholic church that isn't too far away from the Shibuya district?"

"Do you mean the one with the orphanage?" Mai had seen the place several times while on her delivery runs. "Are you working with the church?"

"I work at the orphanage now," he answered. Mai smiled at the thought of him working closer to home. Now, if they could get Masako to stop working away so much, she could have all of her family in one place – well, almost all.

"So, that would mean that little Hotaru is . . ." she trailed off as the realization hit her. John nodded his head solemnly, confirming that he was an orphan. "How old is he?"

"He's eight," John answered quietly. "He was found all alone in a park when he was only two. They have reason to believe that his mother is dead."

"She is," Mai said, suddenly realizing why the boy seemed so familiar to her. He was the little boy from her vision. She brought her hand up to her mouth and let a few tears escape – she felt so sorry for the little boy sitting on her couch.

"Has she . . . visited you recently?" John asked carefully, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Mai nodded as she wiped the tears away.

"You could say that," Mai worked on putting a smile on her face, not wanting to worry the kind priest any farther. "So, why did you bring him here?"

"Well, you see," John's anxiety returned. "He's different from the other kids and he doesn't seem to get along with them very well. He usually keeps to himself."

"He's different how?" Mai asked, her eyes narrowing at the priest's choice of words. The priest sighed before answering.

"Sometimes, when he picks up an object or shakes someone's hand, he can see their past," he admitted. Mai turned to look at the apartment door with sorrowful eyes – the little boy had been through so much. "I was kind of hoping that you could spend some time with him – get him to come out of his shell a little bit."

"Me?!" Mai turned to look at the priest with surprise evident on her face. John chuckled a bit at her reaction and nodded.

"You're very good with kids and with unusual circumstances," John said before she could object. "I couldn't think of anyone more trustworthy or better suited for the position."

"I don't mind doing it," Mai said quickly, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. "I'm just not really sure if I'd be of much help."

"Don't worry about it," John assured her. "I think that just spending some one-on-one time with him should probably be enough. It's difficult to do that when there are so many children in the orphanage."

"I'll do it," Mai nodded. She wanted to do what little she could, even if she felt as if it wasn't much. John smiled gratefully at the woman in front of him.

"Thank you, Mai!" he gave a sigh of relief. "I really appreciate it." Mai smiled and shook her head as if it was nothing and the two went back into the apartment.

They walked in to find Hotaru staring blankly at the television remote in his hand. The television hadn't been turned on and he didn't seem to be studying the remote. John sat next to the boy on the couch and put a hand on the boy's back – he didn't move. Mai carefully slid the remote out of the boy's hand.

The boy sat up straight, snapping out of whatever trance he had been in. His eyes blinked as he looked up into Mai's chocolate eyes. He looked around a bit more as he tried to figure out where he was and then he his eyes rested on the remote in Mai's hand, narrowing as they did so.

"Are you okay, Hotaru?" Mai asked, worried that his powers might have had some sort of bad side-effects. He slowly pulled his gaze away from the remote and nodded.

"Did you see something?" John asked the obvious. The boy looked down at his feet and nodded. "What did you see?"

"Tickle fights," the boy said quietly. John's face held a look of confusion, whereas Mai had a hint of a blush on her cheeks.

"Ah, you saw Yasu tickling me in order to steal the remote," Mai stated, a tad embarrassed. The boy nodded again. "Sorry about that."

"Well, um," John was now flustered, not really sure what to say. "How would you like to spend the day with Mai?" The boy looked up at the young woman, who smiled encouragingly.

"That would be nice," he answered quietly, before returning his gaze to his feet. Mai's face broke out into a grin.

"Then," John stood up. "I guess I'll leave you to it. Have fun, guys. I'll be back later this evening to pick you up." Mai walked him to the door and then he left. Mai turned around to face the young boy she was now all alone with.

"I have some laundry to do and then I have to head over to work," Mai spoke, the silence making her uncomfortable. "Have you ever been in a tea shop?"

"No," the boy answered emotionlessly – he showed no excitement at the prospect. Mai internally sighed.

"Yeah, it's not really that exciting," she admitted as she walked to the laundry room. She left the door open so she could still communicate with the boy. "I just serve tea and cakes to customers. On occasion, I deliver to people who don't want to come to the shop themselves."

"Do you ever go to Rosewood Park?" the boy asked, his voice shaking as he attempted to sound indifferent to what he was asking. Mai froze as she realized that she had left the notepad on the coffee table.

"Not too often," she also tried to sound indifferent. "I went there, once, yesterday. That was my first time, though."

"Oh," the boy seemed relieved. Mai had to resist the urge to walk out and stare at him. She was incredibly curious as to what was going through the boy's head.

She wasn't sure what to say to that, so she continued to fold her towels in silence. She was a quarter of the way through when she turned around to find Hotaru standing in the doorway to the laundry room. Her eyes widened and her heart beat a hundred miles a minute – she hadn't expected him to be there.

"Who's Yasu?" he asked curiously as he started to help with the towels. He watched how she did it for a moment before mimicking it with his own towel.

"He's a really good friend of mine," Mai answered with a smile. "He shares this apartment with me." The boy nodded thoughtfully.

"There were three other people, besides you and Yasu," Mai realized that he must have been talking about what he saw when he picked up the remote. "There was a man and two women."

"That was probably Monk, Ayako, and Masako," Mai answered. "They're also friends of ours – well, kind of like family, in a way."

"Masako – is she the Masako Hara from TV?" Mai nodded. "Is Monk really a monk, or is that just a nickname? He didn't really look much like one."

"He really is a monk," Mai giggled. "He's a little more modern, I guess. His wife, Ayako, is a Shinto priestess." Hotaru's eyebrows knitted as he thought that over.

"Do they ever wear the traditional clothes?" he asked finally. Mai had to fight back another giggle before she could answer.

"Sometimes," she answered honestly. "But only when they do cleansings and exorcisms and whatnot." The boy nodded again.

"What do your parent's think about them?" he asked, his mind probably thinking that the whole thing was very strange.

"My parents are gone, so I don't really know," Mai answered with a sad smile. "I'd like to think that they would love them just as much as I do."

"My parents are gone, too," the boy responded, almost like it was his way of apologizing for bringing up a painful memory.

"Do you miss them?" Mai asked gently. Her eyes watched him as he became intently focused on the towel he was currently folding.

"My dad died before I was born, so I don't really know much about him," the boy said quietly. "The only thing I remember about Mom is her smile as she walked away – the last night that I saw her."

Mai had to blink away the tears that threatened to fall as the boys bottom lip began to quiver. She sat the towel that she had been holding back in the laundry basket and got down on her knees in front of the boy. Wrapping her arms around him, she said, "I'm sorry."

The boy returned the woman's embrace and cried into her shoulder for several moments. He pulled away after he had calmed down a bit and mumbled an apology. Mai smiled at him as she handed him a tissue.

"Sometimes, you just need to cry and let all those sad feelings out," Mai said in response to his apology. "There's no need to be sorry about it!" The boy smiled for the first time since she'd seen him and she couldn't help the grin she gave in reply.

Mai had to reluctantly pull away from the boy and look at the clock they had in the laundry room. They had placed clocks in every room in the house so they wouldn't have an excuse for being late for something – in all honesty, it hadn't helped that much. Mai sighed as she read the time – if she didn't leave soon, she'd be late for work.

"We'll have to finish folding these later," Mai stood up slowly. "Do you want to be my helper at work today?" The boy half-heartedly agreed and the two were out the door.

* * *

Yasu sat with his laptop in front of him on the counter. His co-worker kept giving him annoyed glances as he dealt with the customers. He didn't question his actions, however, until the store was nearly empty – only one seemingly harmless lady remained with the two men.

"Yo, what's with the laptop, man?" Monk asked, having basically just run the whole shop by himself for the past half-hour.

"Mai had another vision," Yasu answered, never looking away from the laptop screen. The lady carefully inched closer to the counter in the back, but was left unnoticed by the young men who sat there.

"Another dream, huh? Wow – that makes like, what, five dreams in the past week?" Monk whistled. Yasu shook his head.

"I think it's up to eight, now," he corrected. "But the last two weren't technically dreams." His eyes narrowed at the very idea of her powers growing; he hoped that they wouldn't get too out of hand.

"What?! What do you mean they weren't dreams?" Monk's concern for the young woman was evident in his voice.

"She was working last night and was pulled into a vision," Yasu answered. He typed something into the search bar angrily. "She didn't pass out or anything; she just stood there and stared off into space, apparently. And today, she was cleaning the toilet and something just came to her!"

"Does it seem to be affecting her?" Monk asked carefully. "I mean, does she pass out afterwards or anything?"

"Last night, when I got home, she was passed out in front of the door," Yasu's jaw clenched at the memory. "She was running a low fever, apparently."

"Maybe we should contact someone," Monk suggested – he didn't know much about Mai's particular powers, but he had a feeling they could become dangerous.

"You know Mai wouldn't want to bother anyone," Yasu answered, his tone showing that he didn't think the same way. "I've been reading up on it, but I haven't had much luck. If it gets worse, I will contact someone – but only as a last resort."

"Yeah," Monk nodded in understanding. Then, he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Have you, um, heard about Naru's return?"

"Yeah," Yasu paused in his research. "He actually lives in our apartment building. He's in the apartment right across from ours." He didn't sound too happy about that.

"So, does Little Lady know?" Monk asked carefully – he was worried for the young woman's mental state. Yasu shook his head.

"Mai hasn't figured it out, yet," he sighed and leaned back in his chair, his eyes stared a hole in his computer screen. "I know I'll have to tell her, eventually. If she doesn't find out for herself first, that is."

"He called us this morning, asking us if we'd consider working for him again," Monk said grimly. A small grin came to his face as he remembered something. "Ayako wanted to tell him to go someplace not very nice, but I convinced her to behave. We both said that we'd have to talk to our family about it."

"Really?!" Yasu surprised Monk by laughing. "I told him the same thing when he asked me in the hallway, this morning."

"Hmm," Monk laughed along with the young man. "I wonder what Masako and John are going to say if he calls them up." Yasu pondered this, before shaking his head with another laugh. "Hey, you don't think he called Mai's school, do you?"

"It wouldn't matter, if he did," Yasu grinned mischievously at the prospect of having possibly outsmarted Naru.

"That's a lot of confidence you have there, young man," Monk eyed him suspiciously. Yasu shrugged and continued to grin.

"Mai slept in and didn't make it to school today," Yasu explained. Monk raised an eyebrow – accusing him of being the mastermind behind that little plot twist. "I might have shut off her alarm, but she had a rough night, last night."

"Oh, yeah," Monk recalled what had gotten them on this train of thought. "What's that about, anyways?"

Yasu then began to explain the visions that Mai had been having and her little ghost friend in the park. He skipped over how she had ended up in the park, but Monk automatically wrote it off as a work related thing. Once he was done with the story, Monk offered his assistance with the case. Then, he went back to dealing with customers while Yasu continued his research. The lady that had listened in on the whole conversation slipped out without being noticed.

* * *

Naru stood in front of his office with a box in his arms. He just stood there, staring at the empty bookshelves and the unusually clean desk. It seemed eerily lonely. Now, the young narcissist was as unsociable as they come, but even he had to admit that the silence was suffocating.

Lin was still in England; Madoka was still decorating their apartment; and Naru's mother had decided to go shopping for a little while. Naru had called up all of his former employees and they had _all_ told him that they would have to discuss the matter with their families – well, almost all of them. When Naru called the high school, they had informed him that Mai Taniyama had not arrived that day.

That probably didn't help the young man's melancholy mood any. He spent the rest of the day wondering if her fever had gotten worse or if maybe Yasu had forced her to stay at his place. He still refused to even consider that maybe they were together. All these thoughts ran through his mind, as he filled his bookshelves and filing cabinets.

Sometime in the late afternoon, his mother had come back to the office. She seemed to be deeply troubled by something, but this went unnoticed by her son. Naru was preoccupied with staring out the window with a faraway look in his eyes.

**"I think we are in dire need of some tea," **Luella finally spoke up, startling her son and pulling him out of his trance.

**"I could make some," **the man suggested warily, unsure of what she was exactly getting at. Luella shook her head – shooting his suggestion down.

**"No, we need to get you out of this dull office for a bit," **she stated bluntly. **"I know the perfect little place! They have the sweetest cakes!" **

**"Okay," **Naru reluctantly agreed, unable to argue the fact that he needed out of the office. He followed the seemingly harmless woman out of the office.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or song lyrics!

Hope you enjoy! (:


	6. So Cold

"If you find your family, don't you cry;

In this land of make-believe, dead and dry.

You're so cold, but you feel alive;

Lay your hand on me one last time," – Breaking Benjamin

* * *

Mai couldn't help the smile that seemed to keep a permanent residence on her face as she watched little Hotaru grin at an elderly couple. She had explained to him the importance of keeping up a smile for the customers on their way to the shop and he had done a great job of it all night. She even thought that he had outdone her in that department.

She honestly didn't mind, though. She was just happy that he seemed to actually be enjoying himself. His eyes sparkled with excitement as he wrote down the customers' orders and followed Mai around the shop. He took his job very seriously.

Even though Mai was definitely preoccupied by Hotaru and their work, it didn't stop this strange feeling that overcame her. Halfway through the night, she began to feel a mixture of fear, impatience, and excitement – for what, she didn't know. Her nerves were working on overtime as she jumped at every little noise.

She kept an even closer watch on Hotaru; she knew from experience that when she started to feel strange, _something_ was going to happen. She expected it to be something paranormal, like Hotaru's mom popping in and disrupting the place, trying to take back her son. She couldn't even imagine how mentally scarring that would be for the young boy.

Fortunately, _that _apparition didn't show up, but a ghost of a different kind did walk through the door. Mai and Hotaru had been in the kitchen in the back, making tea when the bell rang, signaling the entrance of a customer. Mai couldn't see the rest of the shop where she stood, but she could hear the other servers from where they stood behind the counter.

"Wow," one girl exclaimed. The bubble she made with her gum popped with a loud noise. "Am I dreaming?"

"I don't know," another answered her with the same breathless tone. "Please, someone pinch me – I don't believe my eyes."

"Whose table is he sitting at?" a third, slightly less dramatic, girl asked. Silence fell as the three tried to recall who the lucky girl was going to be.

"Taniyama's," the first girl sneered the name. It was at this time that the young woman came out, with Hotaru in tow.

And she stopped in her tracks once she saw who sat at her table – the handsome, young man that had all the other girls gawking. Her disbelieving eyes took in his raven hair and his cold, haunted eyes. His mouth was turned down in a familiar frown as he stared at the menu that lay on the table. On occasion, he would nod or murmur something to appease the lady that sat across from him.

Mai's heart was somewhere in her throat and she was pretty sure she had stopped breathing for a moment, but for different reasons than her co-workers had. He was supposed to be gone – supposed to have given up Japan forever. It was a trick; she tried to convince herself – just her overactive imagination kicking in.

He wasn't coming back; she had worked so hard to come to terms with that and then there he was, sitting in her tea shop and discussing the menu with his mother. Mai couldn't deny that it was him – his mannerisms were far too familiar for her comfort. Mai felt a small hand worriedly take hers and soon found herself reliving her memories of the young man.

"Hotaru," Mai whispered once the scenes of cases and office work passed. The boy looked up with tears in his sparkling green eyes. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"No, I'm sorry," the boy broke away from her gaze and turned to look at the young man. "I wanted to see what had you making that expression." Mai gave his little hand a light squeeze and smiled.

"Then, thank you," Mai said honestly. "You pulled me out of my trance. So, you ready to get back to work?" Hotaru's eyes narrowed as he watched the man, but he nodded and followed Mai.

"Hi, I'm Hotaru," the boy wore his best business smile – Mai and Luella's smiles both widened in response. "And this is my helper, Mai." The said woman rolled her eyes and grinned as Luella laughed. "We will be your servers, tonight!"

Cold, blue eyes finally tore themselves away from the menu to meet familiar warmth. Mai smiled at the startled young man, "It's nice to see you again, Naru."

"Mai," he sounded as surprised as she felt. Her heart beat frantically and her smile was painful, but stood her ground. She wanted him to see that she was alright; she didn't blame him for anything.

"So, have you decided what kind of tea you want?" Mai kept smiling at the two customers. Hotaru held his notepad and his pen and waited for their response. Naru reluctantly pulled his eyes away from the woman. For once, he wasn't sure if he wanted to get down to business so soon.

"I think I'll take some astragalus tea," Luella spoke up, smiling kindly at the woman. Hotaru scribbled that on his pad.

"Would you like some cake, ma'am?" he asked her cautiously. A grin broke out on her face as she looked to him again.

"That's sounds like a good plan," Luella agreed. "Is there any particular cake that you'd recommend?" The boy looked between the lady and Mai, flustered.

"I-I've only had the vanilla cake with the buttercream frosting," he admitted. "But it's really good!"

"Then, I'll take a piece of that," the woman decided. Hotaru grinned happily as he scribbled on the notepad. Mai couldn't help but smile at the exchange.

"I'll take a piece, as well," Naru spoke up, sneaking a quick glance at Mai before looking at the menu again. "With some Tilia Tea, please."

"Did you get all that?" Mai asked Hotaru who nodded as he read the order aloud. "We'll be back with your order in a little bit." Then, they left.

Naru let out the breath that he hadn't known he had been holding. He had expected to see her again, but not so soon. He also hadn't expected her to be so cheerful towards him – he was still wrestling with the idea that maybe she was just pretending she didn't hate him. For some reason, that thought really dented his pride and left him more than just a little sad.

He found himself staring out the window he sat beside. He watched as the rain hit the glass and, once again, tried not to think about the day he left – tried not to think about his former assistant. He wasn't ready to meet her, quite yet. Then again, he wasn't sure that he was ever fully prepared for such a girl.

**"Why did you come back?" **His mother's voice pulled him out of his inner turmoil. **"You never do anything without good reason, so why?"**

**"There's more paranormal activity here. Plus, most people here don't know my true identity, so I can pretty much do whatever I please without the media getting involved," **His response was automatic and Luella noticed that it seemed rehearsed.

**"Are those the only reasons?" **she questioned with a raised brow. Naru continued to stare out the window, avoiding her gaze. **"It's that girl, isn't it? She and her friends are part of the reason you were in such a hurry to return." **Her guess was met with silence, but she noticed his hands clench where they sat on top of the table. She sighed, knowing she wouldn't get anything else out of him, and looked out the window.

**"Perhaps you're right," **his voice surprised her after a moment of silence. She could hear the strain in it as he struggled to remain composed. **"Does it really matter, though? It's not as if they'll want anything to do with me – I was never completely honest with them." **

Luella had to pause for a moment before she could respond. She knew if she looked at her son and let the tears fall, then it could be years before he'd open up to her again like this. She was pleasantly surprised that he had told her this much.

**"You never know," **Luella finally turned to her son, comfortingly. **"They could surprise you – their opinion could be totally different from what you think."**

**"It wouldn't be the first time," **the young man gave his mother another shock by smiling. It had been years since she had seen a real smile on his face and she didn't know how to react.

Luckily, she didn't really have to. Just a few seconds later, Mai and Hotaru appeared with their order. While Mai was preoccupied by carefully placing the tea on the table and talking animatedly to his mother about some trivial matter, Naru took the chance to study her.

Her skin was slightly paler than normal, but other than that he found her to be relatively healthy looking. She was still as short as ever and her brown locks had only grown an inch or two. Her chocolate eyes shone brightly as they warmed the heart of those they fell upon. Her mouth was turned up in a smile that was anything but evanescent – how she could always smile like that, he would never know.

"Do you need anything else?" Mai's eyes slid over to his, pulling him out of his musing. He stared into her eyes for a moment before responding.

"Actually, I do have a question for you," He had her full attention. Her chocolate eyes stared at him curiously, making it a little difficult for him to think straight. "How do you feel about coming back to work as my assistant at SPR?"

He was met with silence as the young woman simply blinked at him. He feared that she was working on trying to find a way to nicely reject his proposal, but he stayed calm on the outside. However, he had to break away from her gaze to do so.

"I understand if you don't find the prospect entertaining," he chose his words carefully as he picked unrolled his napkin and straightened his silverware. "You're free to refuse."

"No, that's not it!" Mai excitedly waved her arms in front of her, as if that would make her statement hit harder. "You just caught me off guard! I'd love it if I could work with SPR again."

"But . . . ?" Naru could tell that there was going to be an exception, just by her tone. He was expecting something like _'I just don't know if I can work with _you_.' _or something like that. She surprised him with a sad smile.

"I'll have to talk it over with my family first," she gave a small pout. "The last time I got a job without telling them first, they scolded me." She laughed at the memory.

"Your family . . . ?" he was trying not to show his confusion. His mind flashed to Yasuhara, before diminishing that thought rather quickly. Mai gave him a smile, but before she could open her mouth to answer, the door to the shop flew open and closed with a loud bang.

All eyes fell on the woman with bright red hair as she stood in front of the door. Her brown eyes searched the shop intently, not stopping until they landed on the startled brunette. Hotaru hid behind her and remained silent as the woman stalked over the Mai and pinched her ear, causing her to yelp in pain.

"Mai," the girl could already hear the reprimand in the woman's voice. "What is the point of carrying a cell-phone if you never answer it?"

"I didn't see the point of using it at work, so I left it in my bag," Mai shot back. "Did you need something?"

"Yeah," the redhead said as if it was obvious. "Why haven't you clocked out yet? Your shift should be over, by now."

"I'm only like three minutes over," the girl shrugged. "Ayako, what's going on? Is something wrong?" The woman rarely bothered Mai at work and she never made such a scene.

"Nothing's wrong, per say," Mai raised an eyebrow at the woman. "Okay, Monk told me that you've been zoning out lately and I was a little worried. Can you blame me?" Mai smiled warmly at the woman.

"I'm sorry for worrying you," she said honestly. "But there's nothing to worry about." Ayako gave the girl a look. "Nothing's happened yet!"

"Yet," the woman pointed out. She was about to say more, when she was interrupted by Naru clearing his throat loudly. Ayako's eyes slid over to him and widened.

"Sorry," Mai quickly bowed as a blush crept up into her cheeks. "I should take my family matters elsewhere. Have a nice day!"

"Long time, no see," Ayako said before Mai could drag her away. Her eyes studied the young man critically. "A lot has happened, since you've been gone, Naru."

"I'm sure it has, Miss Matsuzaki," Naru said calmly, ignoring the taunt he heard in the woman's words.

"Mrs. Takigawa," she corrected him proudly. His eyes widened a fraction of an inch, but that was all that gave away his surprise.

"For two weeks, now!" Mai added cheerfully. Ayako's face briefly matched the color of her hair as the young woman beamed up at her.

"Congratulations," Naru said in earnest. He had a feeling that it would happen eventually, but that was before he closed SPR down. He honestly thought everyone would go their own separate ways after that.

"Thanks," Ayako smiled. Then, she turned to Mai. "You should probably clock out and get your stuff. Monk and Yasu have called a family meeting – which you would know, if you checked your phone."

Mai shot her a look, but went and did as she was told – with Hotaru in tow. Ayako stood there awkwardly for a moment before her eyes met Luella's. She smiled and held out her hand.

"You must be Mrs. Davis," the woman shook her hand. "I'm Ayako Takigawa – my husband is a huge fan of your family's work." She still wasn't used to saying things like that.

"Call me Luella," the woman smiled at Ayako. "And I'm glad to hear that. My husband would be honored to hear it as well, I'm sure." Ayako knew that they were simply going through the motions, but she had a reason for introducing herself.

"Say, would you know how to track someone's powers?" She asked nervously – hoping Mai wouldn't return too soon. "You know, so you could see how they were growing and make sure they didn't get too out of hand."

"Well, you'd need the right equipment," Luella said after some thought. She smiled sadly after she noticed the dejected look that came across Ayako's face. She took a card out of her purse and held it out. "You could contact my husband and see what he thinks."

"Thank you," Ayako took the card and stared at it for a moment. She turned to look behind her, where Mai was chatting with her manager near the back of the shop. "I just might do that." She gave the woman and her son one last smile, before excusing herself to join Mai.

**"I wonder what that was about," **Luella mused as she took a bite of her once forgotten cake. Naru silently did the same as his eyes followed the women and little boy as they exited the shop.

* * *

Mai was ecstatic as she sat on her couch, surrounded by her family. Hotaru sat on her lap, comfortable with her arms enclosed around him. On the couch beside Mai, Monk and Ayako sat next to one another. Masako sat up straight in the recliner with a cup of tea in her hands. Yasu sat closest to Mai in a chair from the kitchen – John also sat in a kitchen chair, beside Yasu.

Monk and Ayako were discussing married life with Masako, who listened to their little quips at one another with slight amusement. Yasu was asking John questions about his job at the orphanage. Mai listened to everything with blissful peace.

After the initial joyous reunion, everyone avoided bringing up the reason for such an occasion. Mai knew that something had to be up if everyone was all together, but currently she couldn't be too worried by it. Halfway through the night, however, the subject of the meeting was eventually thrown out.

"So," Ayako spoke up during a comfortable silence that had fallen upon the group – a rare occurrence. "I'm sure that everyone has been contacted by Naru." Everyone nodded solemnly.

"Okay," Monk sighed. "So, what do we do about it? Do we go back and forget he ever left? Or do we tell him to get lost?" His questions were met with silence.

"Let's look at this logically," Yasu decided. "What are some good reasons for not working with him again?"

"He left us," Masako answered, her eyes slightly watery. "Even though he had a valid reason, he still should have called or at least warned us that he was coming back." Everyone nodded.

"He lied to us the entire time he was here," Monk gave his own answer. He had respected Naru when he worked with him and he idolized his true identity, Oliver Davis. "The whole time he pretended to be someone he wasn't."

"He's such a workaholic!" Ayako complained. "He works us to death when we're on cases. And when he seems to have solved everything, he doesn't tell us until we pry it out of him."

"He gets annoyed rather easily," Father John spoke up timidly. He was having a hard time with actually searching for someone's faults.

"Yeah, but Mai does that," Monk joked. The young brunette turned to glare at the young man, careful not to wake up the sleeping boy in her lap.

"I do not!" she argued quietly. Everyone snickered and her eyes widened as she realized her mistake. "Okay, maybe I do."

"Don't worry – it's endearing when you do it," Yasu teased with a grin as everyone laughed. Mai pouted and looked away, but once everyone sobered up, they all turned to Yasu and waited for what he came up with. "He's too full of himself."

That made them all laugh again – the whole reason Mai had started calling him 'Naru' was because he was so narcissistic. Ever since then, the nickname stuck and the whole team called him by that. Naru was surprised when Mai had first called him that, since it was so close to his nickname as Oliver, but she had no idea at the time.

Everyone calmed down again and turned to Mai. She hadn't said anything yet, but they all thought that she would be the one who would have the most hang-ups with their old boss. She was the one who had spent the most time with the man and had even been rejected by him. In their minds, she had every reason to hate him and not want anything to do with him.

"He's addicted to tea," she said plainly as she smiled, not even touching the subject that had the others thinking twice about joining Naru. "Now, we have to decide if, despite all his faults, it's worth working with him again."

"Well, none of us would be here if it wasn't for him," Yasu said begrudgingly. Mai gave him a small smile and held out her hand, which he took automatically. "Plus, he's more knowledgeable when it comes to ghost hunting and whatnot."

"Even if he doesn't share them, he always has his reasons for doing things," Ayako added. "And he might be a workaholic, but the job always gets done."

"He really wants to help his clients," John said. "Plus, he truly cared for us when we worked for him – he worried about us if we were injured or if we felt off."

"He might have hidden his identity to us, but I can't really blame him for that," Monk admitted. "If everyone knew who he really was, it could have made things really difficult for him. Besides, I think Masako tortured him enough about that while he was here." He grinned at Masako who turned her nose up and looked away, causing everyone to snicker.

"I'm not sure I can forgive him for leaving, quite yet," Masako spoke as she turned to look into her tea cup.

Even though she had used her knowledge of his identity to her advantage – making him take her cases and using it to get him to take her out on dates and whatnot – she _had_ developed a crush on the man. Her crush diminished when he left, especially after she heard what Mai had told Yasu about the rejection. While Mai read a deeper meaning behind the words, Masako began to ponder them – did _she _use Naru as a substitute for what she really wanted? Did she want a warmer, kinder man with the same face?

"I don't know," Mai pulled Masako out of her contemplation. "I don't like that he left either, but would you really want to stay in the place where your brother was murdered if you could avoid it? Besides that, he was also away from the rest of his family."

"Well, if you put it like that . . ." Ayako mused. "Then, why on earth would he want to return? What would Japan offer that England didn't?"

"Privacy," Monk suggested. "Back home, he's famously known as the great Dr. Davis. Here, he's Kazuya Shibuya, just some teenager running a seemingly shady business – not much media coverage to worry about in that case."

"Plus, when he's here, no one knows what he's capable of," John added. "Back home, he probably gets tons of letters asking for his assistance finding missing persons with his clairvoyance and whatnot."

"While this is all very interesting," Masako was growing tired of their digression. "We haven't actually made a decision yet."

Everyone grew somber again. They all looked at one another, hoping someone would have the answer. One by one, they all turned their heads towards the young brunette. She stared back, startled, as she held Hotaru's sleeping form closer and her other hand gripped Yasu's tightly. She had to take a deep breath before she could respond.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm so sorry for the wait! My laptop has been down for awhile (using my wonderful little sister's at the moment). This has been written awhile, but I couldn't get it from the flashdrive to the internet. Hope you enjoy - once again, sorry!

Oh, and thank you for reading and thanks to all who've reviewed! You guys are awesome!

Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or song lyrics!


	7. Rush of Anguish

"Hear your heartbeat

Beat a frantic pace

And it's not even seven AM

You're feeling the rush of anguish settling

You cannot help showing them in

Hurry up then

Or you'll fall behind and

They will take control of you

And you need to heal the hurt behind your eyes

Fickle words crowding your mind," – Poets of The Fall

* * *

Naru tossed and turned for a couple hours as he lay in bed. His mind refused to shut down. He had tried drinking some herbal tea that was supposed to calm the nerves and help him sleep, but that had been all for naught. He just couldn't keep certain thoughts from creeping in and forcing him to remain awake.

He tried not to think about his brother. He tried not to think about his old SPR team. He tried not to think of his former assistant. He tried not to think of anything and everything, but he couldn't stop himself.

He knew that Mai and her family would eventually decide the fate of SPR, if they hadn't already. He was well aware that he would never be able to replace such a team. Their differing knowledge and abilities, toppled with the way they worked so well together, made them completely exceptional.

Besides, he wasn't sure he could be as comfortable with anyone else as he was with them. He trusted them totally and they trusted him – or at least, they used to, before they found out he lied to them. Even though he kept his identity hidden, they still knew him better than most; they were aware of his little quirks and his faults.

Maybe that's what was worrying him the most as he jumped out of bed and changed into his black shirt and pants. He was afraid that they had finally grown old of his antics – they felt free when he left and didn't want to be held down by such a spoil-sport. Perhaps, he thought as he quietly slipped on his shoes, they moved on and were far too busy with their own lives to come and humor him.

He suppressed a sigh as he slipped past the room where his slumbering mother lay. He picked his keys up off the coffee table before walking out – careful to shut the door gently so as not to disturb anyone. He glided through the hallway, intent on getting outside in the fresh air.

He let out the breath he had been holding once he made it outside. He walked out from under the awning that lead to the door and moved to a hidden location and leaned against the building. He looked up at the sky only to find that the rain clouds prevented him from viewing the stars.

The haunting thoughts continued to run through his mind, but he found the suffocating feeling lessened a bit out in the chilly night air. He hated the waiting game; he wished that he could just know what they thought. He wished that the answer would be easy.

Just as these thoughts entered his brain, he heard a commotion coming from the door. He stood his ground, only moving his eyes towards the direction of the sudden noise. He tensed up, but quickly relaxed as he finally caught a glimpse of what was going on.

John was the first to come into his line of view, with a young boy passed out on his shoulder. He murmured a quiet farewell, before heading to his car. Next, Masako trailed behind in her normal attire – a floral printed kimono – and entered a car that was waiting for her. Lastly, Monk and Ayako started to leave.

"Make sure you get some sleep," Ayako called out, still facing whoever was left at the door. "I mean it – you two look like you haven't been resting properly."

"They're fine, you old hag. You worry too much," Monk's head was promptly hit with Ayako's purse. "Ouch," the damaged man cried out. "I'll see you at work tomorrow, Yasu."

"If she doesn't kill you, tonight," Mai giggled. The sound caused a small smile to grace the face of the eavesdropping narcissist.

"See you, guys!" Yasu's voice caused the smile to quickly fade. The older couple waved and made their way to their vehicle, arguing the whole way there. Mai sighed as soon as everyone was out of sight.

"Are you upset?" Mai seemed concerned. "Are you really okay with this decision? You didn't seem too thrilled, earlier."

"How do you feel about it?" Yasu asked calmly. Naru strained to hear what they said; he knew they must be talking about the decision to return to SPR.

"Honestly," Mai answered slowly. "I'm comfortable with it. I don't know if my instinct or if it's just relief that we've reached a conclusion, but I'm at peace regarding it."

"Then, I'm okay with it," Yasu assured her. "If this is what you feel is best, then I'll trust you on that." Naru could hear Mai sigh with relief.

"By the way, did you do any research on Rosewood Park?" Mai asked; glad to have gotten the other subject out of the way.

"Yes, I did," Yasu answered. "Which was why I was so surprised when you came home with Hotaru." Their voices faded away as they went back into the apartment building and Naru was left in the silence.

He wasn't any smarter than he had been just a few moments before and if anything he was more anxious. Whatever the decision was, it would be unchangeable once Mai set her mind to it. The fact that Mai was so comfortable with it only served to vex him more.

That, however, was only one of his concerns. He was also troubled by the fact that Mai and Yasu seemed to be _together_. The entire idea bothered him. But what really scared him was how difficult it was for him to even imagine Mai in the arms of someone else.

* * *

Mai's hand hovered over the note she had just written. Her instinct and mind were both telling her that what she was about to do was completely stupid and dangerous, but her heart was telling her that she had to do this. She quietly grabbed a granola bar and slipped out of the apartment.

She felt guilty about not waking Yasu up and giving only a vague account of what she was doing – she knew he would figure it out as soon as he saw the note, but that didn't keep her from feeling bad. Ever since she had heard what Yasu had dug up during his research, she felt the need to go back to the park.

In the research, they had found that, since the police discovered Hotaru, there were several deaths that occurred within the park. All the victims had been women, ages varying, and they all had a son who was around two years old. The young boys were never harmed – just mentally scarred as they cried by their mothers' corpses.

As Mai silently shut the door, she pondered why the women had to die. She was pretty sure that Hotaru's mother was the one behind it, but she wanted to know why she did it. Was she holding a grudge against them? Did she think that their sons were her own?

She was so lost in her musings, that she didn't notice that there was another person in the hallway. She didn't notice, that is, until she ran into them. With a grunt, she recoiled and opened her eyes to find herself staring at black fabric.

"Sorry, sir!" she exclaimed quietly, not wanting to wake up anyone else on the floor – namely Yasu. The black clad figure turned around and Mai looked up into cold, blue eyes. "Naru!"

The young man looking down at her seemed more irritated than he would be on a normal day, she noted. She recognized this almost immediately and knew from past experience that it meant he was tired. For a regular person, this seemed normal – waking up at five in the morning would make a body tired – but this was Naru, he usually got up early.

"What are you doing sneaking out of Yasuhara's apartment at this hour?" Naru asked crossly, his lack of sleep only adding to his usual unpleasantness. Mai plastered a grin on her face.

"I live there too, ya know," She was confused by the way his eyes seemed to get even darker at the revelation, but she continued to speak proudly. "As for why I'm up at this horrible hour, I have some business to attend to before school starts."

"Does it somehow involve a Rosewood Park and the ghost that inhabits it?" Naru asked before he could shut his big, yet intelligent mouth. Mai's chocolate eyes widened as he guessed where she was going on the first try.

"Did you get a case about it, already?" Mai asked, curiously filling in the blanks herself. Naru remained silent as she began to ramble. "I suppose that makes sense. I mean, there have been several unexplained deaths reported and one within the past couple months."

"Hold up," Naru interrupted her and placed a hand on each of her shoulders. Her eyes bore into his, startled. "There have been people killed in this park and you are still planning on going alone? Please, tell me that, at the very least, the rest of your _family_ is waiting for you there."

"Um," Mai tore her eyes away, not wanting to face the wrath of his glare. "I didn't exactly tell them . . ."

"Mai," Naru sighed exasperatedly at his former assistant. The familiar sound caused Mai to grin and a small giggle to escape from her lips. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," she answered through giggles. She covered her mouth with one hand as she tried to control herself. Once she recovered, a small smile still played on her lips. "It's been awhile since I've heard that."

Naru responded with a small, but ever surprising, smile and nodded his head in agreement. The smile soon faded, though, as he recalled why he had even uttered the nostalgic phrase in the first place. "I'm still not letting you go." He was about to stop there, but quickly realized his mistake. "To the park, I mean."

"Naru," she spoke calmly with a sad smile on her face. Had this been the same Mai from a year ago, Naru noted, she would have gotten loud and defensive. He wasn't sure how he felt about her maturing. "I understand that what I'm about to do is reckless and even stupid, but I'm willing to do it, if it means that this woman will finally know peace and through her peace, so will Hotaru."

"Who's Hotaru?" Naru's eyes narrowed at the thought of yet another guy in Mai's life. Mai's eyes watered a little bit as she took a deep breath.

"The woman's son," Mai tore her gaze away from Naru's for a little bit only to return with a fire blazing in her eyes. "He's only eight. Six years ago, his mom abandoned him at the park and ran off to where she was shot by some men lying in wait for her."

"Did you get this from your dreams?" Naru asked calmly, to the young woman's displeasure. She suddenly found the apartment door beside them rather interesting as she avoided his stare.

"Of sorts," she answered vaguely. He was about to voice a complaint about it, but Mai spoke before he could. "I have to go, Naru. I owe it to Hotaru and all the other kids who had their mothers taken from them at that park."

Naru wished that she would turn back to look at him, but he already knew what he'd see. He would find himself staring into chocolate depths of stubborn resoluteness and selfless love. He knew that she'd do what she wanted, whether he said she could go or not. He also knew that she could very well get herself killed by doing so.

"Fine," he decided through clenched teeth. Her eyes lit up as she looked at him. "But I'm going with you." She shook her head and smiled.

"Thank you!" Without much thought about what she was doing, she gave him a hug, still profusely thanking him. Then, the realization hit her and she quickly pulled away and turned her back towards him so he couldn't see how red her face had become.

She internally shook her head; she should've thought a little more before she did that. She had probably just made him rather uncomfortable, she figured. He might have even been disgusted, wondering why the strange woman he had rejected almost a year ago had the guts to embrace him.

"We should probably get going," Mai spoke up after she had calmed down a bit. She looked back to find that Naru's emotionless mask was in place. She faked a smile. "You probably want to get this over with so you can get back to work and I can't miss another day of school."

"Have you missed a lot of school?" Naru asked as he followed her through the apartment building. Mai gave a silent sigh of relief when he didn't reprimand her for the hug.

"Not a lot," she shook her head. "I've missed some, with the move and all. My schedule at the tea shop is planned around my schooling, though, so it works out well."

"Why did you move?" Naru asked, careful not to let any emotion color his tone. If he did, Mai didn't notice and kept up with her energetic step.

"Yasu convinced me that it'd be more economically sound," something in the way she said it led Naru to believe she thought there was something more to it. "By the way, what are you doing in the apartment building?"

"I rent out an apartment there, Mai," he answered slowly and condescendingly. Mai rolled her eyes and shot him a look, much to his secret delight.

"You're really back," Mai murmured mostly to herself. Naru gave a nod. "So, why'd you do it? Why come back here?" She looked up at him curiously, no trace of regret or anger in her warm eyes.

"There's more paranormal activity here. Plus, most people here don't know my true identity, so I can pretty much do whatever I please without the media getting involved," he repeated the words he spoke to his mother. Mai sensed something was a bit off in his response, but she decided not to question him.

"That's what we figured," Mai sighed as she looked down at her feet, not wanting to trip over something. They had just walked away from the parking lot and were making their way along the paved sidewalk.

"_We?_" Naru asked. "Do you mean you and Yasuhara?" He could envision the two of them chatting about their old boss while they were cuddled up on the couch and he didn't like the vision, not one bit.

"Well, yeah," Mai answered slowly, a bit taken aback by his inquiry. "Along with the rest of the family; we were discussing your invitation to work with you again and we got a bit sidetracked, as usual." She laughed a little at that and Naru smirked.

"Speaking of the invitation, did you guys come to a verdict?" Naru spoke calmly, but his heart beat so hard that it wanted to jump out of his chest. Mai glanced at him, almost as if she sensed something, and for a moment he thought his fears were being confirmed.

"We did," Mai said slowly. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to be the one to tell him, but she figured she might as well, since they were there and all. "We all agreed that it'd be nice – all of us working together again. Of course, Monk and Ayako have some conditions, but they never said what they were, and everyone has agreed that if you're not completely honest with us, the deal is off."

"That seems fair," Naru had to fight the temptation to let out a big sigh of relief. He didn't mind it being conditional, as long as there was still a fighting chance that it could still be.

"Things are going to be different, though," Mai said with a sad smile. Naru raised an eyebrow and she gave a small laugh. "I just mean, we're all different people now. A year is a long time. We've changed; we've grown."

"Change doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing," Naru knew that she was starting to get uneasy and he wanted to comfort her. Her sad smile simply grew.

"Maybe so," she sighed, before grinning. "You're right, it'll be okay." Then, the two fell silent for most of the trip. The silence would occasionally be broken by Mai, who would randomly start humming a song and Naru would give her a look, but neither of them spoke.

Eventually, they made it to the park. The sun was just beginning to rise, so the world was still sleeping in the dark. The spring morning chill became an artic breeze as they leaned against one of the park trees.

"What's the story?" Naru asked. Mai looked up at him curiously. Surely he knew the story; this was also one of his cases after all. When she voiced this, he realized his blunder. "I didn't get a request for it; I actually overheard you and Yasuhara talking about it."

"That was really early this morning, but I guess that explains why you looked exhausted," Mai mused. Then, a thought hit her. "You lied!"

"I didn't lie," Naru defended with pride. "I just didn't correct you or elaborate." Mai huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"That's still a lie of omission," she pointed out, but her anger was slowly starting to dissolve. "But I _suppose_ I'll let it slide, this time."

"What's the story?" Naru went straight to business, as was his way. Mai sighed, but still couldn't help the smile that soon came across her face.

"The woman is Kokoro Hinata; she was married to Ryuu Hinata," Mai grew serious as she gave him the information. "Mr. Hinata was the leader of the Dragon Gang that terrorized the streets of Shibuya for years, up until about six or seven years ago. He was killed by a rival gang when his wife was pregnant.

"Mrs. Hinata gave birth to Hotaru while she was in hiding. The Dragon Gang's rival had started to go after the families of the gang members. She managed to keep herself and her son safe for two years, but they eventually found her.

"They sent her a message, saying that, if she didn't meet them at a certain place and time, they would kill everyone she loved. So, she went to a park that wasn't too far from the meeting place and she abandoned her only son. She left a diary of what happened with him, so when the police came and found him they would know what happened.

"She ran through those woods," Mai gestured towards the forest beside them. "She ran until she came to a paved road that curves along the edge of a cliff. There, pulled over to a small breakthrough in the trees, the rival gang member laid in wait. A merciless man stepped out of his vehicle and shot her." Mai's hand automatically flew up to her shoulder as she remembered the vision she had.

"What about the other women?" Naru asked, trying to discreetly distract her from whatever painful memory she was reliving. Her hand fell back to her side, but her eyes darkened.

"They all died in this park," Mai nearly whispered. "They varied in age, occupation, height, hair color – it's almost as if they had nothing in common. Neither they nor their families were involved in gang activity; but even if they had been, the gang members are rotting in jail thanks to Kokoro's diary."

"There must be something they have in common," Naru interrupted, noticing that she was starting to get slightly off topic and her hands were clenched at her side. He figured that she knew things about the rival gang that upset her.

"Yes," she said, calming down slightly. "They each had a son – around the age of two, with green eyes, and dark hair – which was with them at the time. They were all strangled to death, while their scared, helpless sons were forced to watch." Tears started to fall and she tried to subtly wipe them away.

"Are you sure it's Kokoro doing these things?" Mai nodded, not trusting her voice as the tears were still streaming. Naru sighed. "Why did you want to come here? Do you have a plan to help her?"

"Something in my heart was telling me to come here," Mai answered honestly. "I just wish I could understand what she wants. If I knew, then maybe I could help her. I should've asked Masako to join me; at least she can see and communicate with spirits."

"What if she doesn't listen to Masako's pleas?" Naru asked, mostly because the thought of having Masako there made him uncomfortable. Beside him, he could feel Mai shrug.

"I would ask Monk or John to cleanse her," she suggested. "I might even see if Ayako's able to do anything here." She looked around at all the trees and thought that there might be a possibility that would work, however slight.

"Have you done this a lot?" Naru asked, feeling a mix of fear and pride and attempting to keep it all concealed. Mai shrugged again.

"You got to remember, Naru – there's more paranormal activity here," Mai used his words against him as she smiled. "Someone has to help them. One can't handle it all on their own, though."

"You were right," Naru reluctantly admitted. She glanced at him questioningly. "Things really have changed." She smiled and was about to respond when something appeared on a bench across from them.

It was a woman with long, dark brown hair. She wore a white dress stained with blood at the shoulder. She was beautiful, Mai thought, but she had such a gloomy, yet livid aura radiating from her. Her green eyes glared at the pair leaning against the tree.

"She's here," Mai stated what she felt was obvious in a slightly fearful tone, the woman's aura starting to suffocate her. Naru could feel the temperature drop, but when he followed Mai's gaze, there was nothing there.

* * *

**A/N: **I am so so sorry about the wait. My computer is still down, so I'm still borrowing my sisters. And we've been really busy lately, but enough excuses...

Thank you for reading! And for those who reviewed, thank you so much! You guys are awesome!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or song lyrics.


	8. The Past is Real

"I tear my heart open, I sew myself shut,

My weakness is that I care too much,

And our scars remind us that the past is real,

I tear my heart open just to feel," – Papa Roach

* * *

Naru stared at what he saw as an empty bench. He cautiously stepped away from the tree and stood protectively in front of Mai. He could sense something paranormal was in the vicinity, but he didn't have the ability to see it for himself. Mai wasn't supposed to have that ability, either – or so he thought.

_"You," _even Naru could hear the anguished voice echoing among the trees. _"You know where my son is; you've been keeping him from me."_

"Kokoro," Mai spoke calmly, despite the circumstance. "I do know where he is; Hotaru is safe, exactly how you wanted him to be."

_"Do you just think that you can come in and take my place?" _Naru felt the chill come dangerously closer and could also sense Mai tensing up. _"Ha! You could never be a better mother to him!" _Naru silently begged to differ.

"No one could ever take your place," Mai attempted to assure her. "The same goes for you, though. You can't take care of him anymore."

_"That's probably what those other women thought when they tried to take away my son, as well," _the woman spat. Naru could feel Mai start to lose her patience.

"Those women didn't have Hotaru; those were their own sons that they were walking with," Mai kept her voice level, slightly surprising Naru, who had remembered when she used to fly off the handle rather easily. "They were all innocent."

_"Even if that were true," _this woman would not budge. _"You are still guilty. You are keeping Hotaru from me – holding him hostage for your own sick, twisted pleasure." _

"There's nothing pleasurable about a mother and a child being separated," Mai's voice was dangerously low, causing the hairs on Naru's neck to stand up. "You don't understand," Mai suddenly exclaimed, showing the young man a glimpse of the old Mai. "I wish it was different; I wish Hotaru could be safe in his mother's arms and have some sort of support system as he goes about life. I wish that you could see your son grow into the handsome gentleman he's sure to be, but you can't! You're dead and if you want your son to have as happy and normal a life as possible for him, you'll have to _move on_!"

_"I want him to be happy," _Kokoro spoke carefully. _"Will my moving on really make him happy? Will he be safe? Will he be loved?" _

"He'll sense that you've moved on and he'll feel relieved," Mai answered with a comforting smile. "He only wants what's best for you. As for your concerns, I can promise you that he'll be safe and very much loved."

_"Are you sure?" _the woman wasn't entirely convinced. _"Do you promise to keep him safe?" _Mai simply nodded and the woman continued to press the issue.

"I promise that I will do everything in my power to make sure he's safe," Mai assured the woman. Naru could only imagine her warm, brown eyes staring the woman down – he knew that_ he _would find it hard to defy her. Well, he could do it, but that didn't make it any less hard.

It seemed to work for her; a bright light filled the park for a split moment and the air became noticeably warmer. Naru turned around to look at Mai, who had a warm smile on her face. She seemed paler as she leaned against the tree. Her warm eyes revealed her sudden exhaustion.

"What just happened?" Mai asked, slightly shocked that it actually worked. She stared at the park in awe, as if she was waiting for the ghost to come popping back out.

"You led her to the light," Naru didn't have it in him to be condescending; he was too shocked, as well. "Your powers seem to have grown."

"Blah," Mai responded unenthusiastically. She slid down the tree and sighed. "That sounds draining." Naru watched as her eyes started to close and her voice became slurred. "I should start heading towards the school."

Mai was soon unconscious and Naru went to her side. He checked for a fever and was upset when he found that she did indeed have one. With a sigh, he picked her up and started for the SPR office.

* * *

Yasu stood at the counter with Mai's note staring up at him. His anger was won over by his fear for the danger prone girl. Her note merely said that she was going for a walk before she headed out for school, but he knew better. He knew that she was probably going to the haunted park.

He should have thought to make her promise to not go out there alone. Even though he had thought that it would be obvious, seeing as people have actually died – and they didn't have anything to do with Hotaru! But no, Mai didn't think about that, or maybe she just didn't care.

With a sigh, Yasu looked at the clock; it was almost seven thirty. He absently wondered what time she left as he pulled out his cell phone. As he worked on finding the number, he grabbed his laptop case. He walked out of the apartment with the phone at his ear; if she didn't answer, at least he'd be closer to the park.

He was surprised when it was answered on the third or fourth ring. He was even more stunned when a cold, hard male voice was on the other line, "Hello, Yasuhara."

"Shibuya," Yasu answered just as coldly. "Where's Mai? Why didn't she answer the phone herself?" He would have never guessed that she would have gone to SPR.

"She's currently sleeping on the couch in the office's sitting room," Naru answered, sounding as if he was bored, almost. "She passed out while at the park."

"So, she did go to Rosewood," Yasu sighed. He stopped in his tracks and thought of his next course of action. He wondered if he should go to SPR and take Mai, like he desperately wanted to, or if she was safer where she was. Naru muttered a confirmation. "And you went with her, thank you."

"It wasn't for your benefit," Naru pointed out. Yasu resisted the urge to run the Shibuya district and punch the narcissistic man in the nose. "Nonetheless, I'm glad I did. Were you aware that her abilities were growing?"

"I was under that impression, yes," Yasu answered carefully as the young man on the other line was accusing him of neglect for the second time since his return.

"Were you planning on getting her some help to control them?" Naru asked. His disapproval was very clear in his voice. "Or were you hoping that it would simply go away if you ignored it?"

"Hey, we were going to do something about it eventually!" Yasu defended himself and his family. "We were just waiting to see how bad they became – we doubted that she would want to mess with it unless it was absolutely necessary."

"She'd never want anyone to worry about it," Naru pointed out and Yasu couldn't even argue with that. "You're supposed to ignore that and do what's best for her."

"Sorry, I've been kind of busy trying to keep her happy," Yasu retorted. He wasn't sure if his words would even faze the narcissist, but when he was met with silence, he continued. "Besides, why do you even care what's best for her? Weren't you the one who rejected her and left before you could face the consequences?"

"What are you talking about?" Yasu could almost see his old boss narrowing his eyes at him as he tried to force the answer out.

"I'm talking about the day you left," Yasu spat out. "Do you even realize how heartbroken she was? And what a rejection! She might have gotten over it a lot quicker had you not used some lame excuse like she really loved your brother and not you."

"That wasn't an excuse," Naru interjected. Yasu could only manage a humorless laugh, he was so livid. "I truly believed every word I said that day."

"Then, you're not as smart as everyone took you for," Yasu said gravely. He just couldn't believe that anyone could be so stupid as to think such a thing.

"What does it matter, anymore?" Naru angrily whispered, not wanting to wake Mai up. He couldn't continue with his emotionless façade; Yasu had pushed his buttons. "She seems to be happy with you, so why bother with her previous fixations?"

"Where is she, right now?" Yasu asked, surprisingly calm. On the other end of the line, Naru was slightly surprised; he was worried about what was going to come out of the young man's mouth next.

"Where I told you," Naru answered, slipping back into his emotionless tone. "She's sleeping on the couch at the office." Yasu took a deep breath before continuing.

"Where do you think she would like to be?" Yasu asked carefully, starting to regret having given his rival so much information.

"At home, with you," Naru's voice faltered a little, but only a little. He spent most of his time trying _not _to think like that and saying it only made it worse.

"Ha," Yasu laughed humorlessly again. "I only wish that were true." Then, he slammed the phone shut. He stood there, seething for a bit, before heading to class. As much as he hated to admit it, Mai was probably safest where she was and he didn't think that he had the self-control to go up there and not beat the crap out of Naru.

He knew that what he had just done was probably a big mistake. If you wanted to be on your future boss's good side, you didn't chew them out before you even started working for them. But he couldn't just let it slide anymore and he was glad to have gotten it off his chest. He just hoped that it wouldn't affect the job offer; he still wanted to work with his make-shift family, even if they were working under his sworn enemy. He could work on his self-control – he hoped.

* * *

It had been nearly an hour since the phone call and Naru was still slightly on edge. Every ten minutes, he would get up from his chair and walk a couple feet to check on the still unconscious Mai. Her fever was relentless and it concerned him.

He had just sat back down after one of his periodic check-ups, when the door to the office opened up. A woman with fiery red hair stood in the doorway, looking around the room with a sense of familiarity. She stopped looking when her eyes caught a glimpse of the couch's occupant.

"What happened?" she rushed to the young woman in her concern. "Where did you find her?" Naru kept composed, his eyes watching the priestess steadily.

"We went to Rosewood Park," The priestess fretted over the young woman as he answered. "She saw the ghost and helped her see the light."

"She's not a medium," she turned to look at the young man with fear in her eyes. "Are you telling me that she harnesses power in that field, as well?"

"She's always been sensitive to spirits," Naru reminded her rationally. "It just seems as if she's become even more so. Has she shown growth in other areas?"

"Yes," she turned back to look at the slumbering Mai, her tired eyes revealing her anxiety. "Lately, she's been having visions without even passing out. She picks up a similar object or sees a similar scene and she gets pulled into something from a spirit's past."

"I see," Naru mulled that over. His guilt was gnawing at him, once again, as he thought of what she must have gone through while he was away. He should have come back sooner or at least called to check-in every now and then, but it was bit late to realize that now.

"There's something else I came here to talk about," the priestess stood up and sat in a chair across from the young boss. "I'm not sure if she told you or not."

"Is this about your future employment, Mrs. Takigawa?" Naru asked as politely as possible for him. Ayako nodded. "I understand you have some conditions."

"Yes," she worked on choosing her words carefully. "One condition is that you work with us in helping Mai to control her ever-growing abilities. We don't know all that's she capable of and we can't help her with what we do know."

"I am ready to assist in any way I can with that," Naru promised her. Ayako didn't miss the worried glance he sent in the young woman's direction.

"Another thing is," Ayako wasn't sure how well this one would be taken. "It's all or none. If you fire one of us, the rest of us follow suit. I apologize, but we won't let a really good job tear apart our family."

"I understand," Naru spoke after a moment of thought. Ayako was worried that meant he was going to take back his employment offer. "I would never want to disband the team, not again." Ayako let go of the breath she had been holding and smiled warmly at the young man.

"That's good to know," she relaxed in her seat and turned to look at Mai. "Oh, and one more thing, but this is more of a friendly warning."

"What is it, Mrs. Takigawa?" Naru asked, raising his eyebrow at the woman. She sighed, starting to regret bringing it up in the first place.

"It's just Yasuhara," Ayako began to explain. Naru's eyes narrowed at _his _name. "He's really pissed about what went down. I'm sure that, once everything's settled down, he'll be his normal, cheerful self, but he'll probably be really short with you for a while."

"I'll try to keep that in mind," Naru spoke calmly, but his mind was reeling. For just a brief moment, he had forgotten about the team's researcher. Ayako had let out another relieved sigh, not knowing where the mysterious young man's thoughts had taken him.

"I think that's about it," Ayako stood up and so did Naru. "You look as if you've got things under control here, so I guess I'll take my leave, then." She stole one last glance at the sleeping girl. "It's weird, but despite everything that happened, I'm glad that you're here – for her sake, anyways." With that parting statement, she left.

Naru stared after her in confusion. What did she mean by that? Was it for the same reason that had Yasuhara so angry? He turned to look at the slumbering girl whose heart he had supposedly broke. _What have I done?_ He thought to himself.

* * *

Mai inwardly groaned as she felt every muscle in her body slowly wake up. Her joints were stiff and she felt as if she had just been in a car wreck, but she couldn't recall being in one. She also didn't know where she was; familiar female voices were chatting somewhere near her, but she couldn't figure out who they were.

Then, her memory came back to her. She had gone to Rosewood Park to visit the ghost, but she hadn't gone alone; her former boss went with her. She had seen Hotaru's mother and talked to her. She had somehow managed to lead her to the light – she still couldn't believe it.

**"I think she's starting to wake up," **one of the women pulled her out of her thoughts. The voice was so familiar; Mai was irked that she couldn't put her finger on who it belonged to.

**"I think you're right," **an older woman agreed. This one, Mai recognized immediately. That had to be none other than Luella Davis.

"Taniyama,"the first woman's voice was suddenly closer. "Sweetie, are you awake?" Mai slowly opened her eyes and was met with light brown eyes staring her down. She took in the woman's slightly pink tinted hair and recognized her immediately.

She was Mori Madoka, Naru's teacher for all things ghost hunting. Mai had met her once when she had come all the way to Japan with a case for SPR. It was the case where Yasu had filled in for Naru. It was also the same one where they uncovered an Oliver Davis imposter.

"Madoka," Mai grumbled, still not fully awake. "You're back! Wait, we are still in Japan, right?" Mai quickly sat up, only to become dizzy and fall back down on the couch.

"Silly," Madoka chastised while grinning. "Yes, we're still in Japan – the SPR office, to be specific." Mai sighed in relief and then something on Madoka's left ring finger caught her eye.

"Who's the lucky guy?" she asked with a small grin. Mai was pretty sure that the simple engagement ring hadn't been there the last time she had seen the woman.

"Kōujo," Luella answered for the blushing bride-to-be. Mai slowly sat up, this time; her eyes were bright with excitement. Her excitement brought smiles to the other women's faces.

"Lin?!" Mai exclaimed. "That's great! Congratulations, I'm so happy for you! When's the date?" She didn't know the two of them had been romantically involved, but she was happy just the same.

"We don't really have a set date," Madoka explained. "We're waiting for the rest of the boys to come to Japan and get settled. Then, we'll have a small ceremony with everyone there."

"Oh, he's not here yet?" Mai was slightly disappointed; she really missed the quiet man. As she watched Madoka's face fall, she realized that she wasn't the only one. "I'm sure that they'll be here as soon as they can be."

"I know," Madoka smiled at the young woman who was trying to comfort her. "Besides, I'm sure he's not the only one who's excited to come back to Japan." Mai was slightly confused about that; she wasn't aware that Martin Davis had been to Japan before.

"So, how do you guys like Japan so far?" Mai asked. Luella commented about how she loved the place and found the shops so cute.

"I haven't really been out much, this time around," Madoka sheepishly admitted. "I've been busy setting up the apartment."

"Well," Mai stood up from the couch carefully and was happy to find that she still had her balance. "We shall have to remedy that. What do you say to a girl's night on the town?"

"That sounds wonderful!" Luella exclaimed, standing up from her chair. "But are you sure that you can handle it? You passed out earlier today."

"I've had a nice nap," Mai shrugged. "I'll be fine as long as we avoid anything paranormal." Luella laughed at her easygoing nature.

"We should probably leave a note for Noll," Madoka suggested. After they wrote a note explaining where they were going, the three hit the town.

* * *

**"Mai woke up while you were out," **the note in Naru's hands read. **"She offered to show us around town. Don't wait up. Love, Mom." **

Naru loved his mother's antics, but sometimes her ability to be so carefree irritated him. He wasn't comfortable with Mai going out after she had passed out earlier that morning. He knew that she'd be perfectly safe with his mother and Madoka, but he was still uneasy with the situation.

He hadn't realized how uneasy he'd be, until the door to the SPR office opened once again. Instead of Luella, Madoka, Mai, or even Ayako standing walking into the office, as Naru had hoped, there was an irritated young man. The man glared at the business owner over his glasses.

"Where's Mai?" the young man asked, not getting too close. "I thought you said that she was here." Naru resisted the urge to sigh.

"She was," Naru responded. "Then, she woke up while I was gone. My mother and Madoka seemed to have kidnapped her." Naru's eyes glared a hole through the note he held.

"You left her?" Yasuhara asked, but couldn't muster up the right amount of anger. He was worn out from their fight this morning, school, and the work that he had just finished at the music store.

"I left her in the capable hands of my mother and Madoka," Naru answered calmly. He faintly wondered if Yasuhara meant about the previous incident, where he left her and flew back to England, but he chose not to bring that up.

"I guess I'll just head home, then," Yasuhara started to turn back and then stopped. "Oh, and I'm sorry for the way I handled things, this morning. I don't apologize for what I said, but I am sorry for how I said it." Naru was silent as Yasuhara made his way to the door.

"I'm sorry, as well," Naru uncharacteristically said, as Yasuhara's hand was on the doorknob. He stopped, but he didn't turn around or make any sounds. "I should have handled things differently a year ago."

"Yeah," Yasuhara agreed, but there was no malice in his words. "You really should've." Then, he left Naru alone in the office.

* * *

Father Brown sat in a plastic chair, surrounded by young children. In his hands, he held a book about David and Goliath. He told the children the story of a giant named Goliath, who had been mocking God's chosen ones, the Israelites. Goliath was so big that the Israelite king and his army were very afraid.

"But there was one Israelite who was not afraid," John turned the page and showed the crowd the pictures. "His name was David. David wasn't part of the king's army, but was instead a simple shepherd boy who loved God. When he heard the mean giant mocking God's chosen ones, he knew something had to be done to stop him. So, he reached into his bag, pulling out a simple stone, and threw it at Goliath, in the name of the Lord. The stone hit Goliath right in the forehead and he fell to the ground. The giant had been slain and the people of Israel rejoiced."

The children's book had skipped the part where David had taken the giant's sword and cut off Goliath's head, but as John looked around at the wide-eyed children, he figured the story already had enough violence in it. The kids had a lot of questions and poor John did his best to answer them all. It took all of his strength to not sigh in relief when Sister Louise called them all for supper.

As Sister Louise took them all to the Dinner Hall, John stayed behind to clean up the play area the kids had just left. Little Hotaru also stayed behind, as he had been known to do from time to time. He helped John pick up the toys and books that had been strewn across the room.

"Father John," the boy spoke timidly, not looking at John as he did so. "You know a lot about ghosts and stuff, right?" John looked at the young boy curiously.

"I suppose I know a little bit," the priest answered modestly. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that I know a lot." The boy nodded as if he expected this answer.

"If someone close to you died, could you know if they moved on or not?" Hotaru looked up at the priest who seemed to be at a loss for words. "Because I know that my mom has moved on and I know that Mai was the one that helped her." Then, he looked away, off into space. "I just don't know _how _I know that."

"I think we should pay another visit to Miss Taniyama," Father Brown didn't know how else to handle that situation.

"Can we?" the boy's eyes lit up as he looked at the worn-out priest. John simply nodded, before leading the boy to the Dinner Hall.

* * *

**A/N: **Second one up in one night! WooHoo!

Okay, I have to tell on myself here; When I was looking up the names for Hotaru's parents on a name-meaning website, I found out what a couple of the characters' names meant. One being Osamu, Yasu's first name means 'discipline, study' - fitting, right? Then, I saw the meaning for Hotaru, 'firefly'. That's cool, right? I mean a cute little light, where could you go wrong with that? Except that it's a girl's name... -_-

Should've done my research before I named the kid...oh well. Aaannnyways, hope you enjoy the story! (:

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or song lyrics.


	9. Family

"Yes, she'll tell you she's an orphan,

After you meet her family," – The Black Crowes

* * *

Mai found herself pinned to the apartment door by a pair of piercing, grey eyes. The glasses seemed to magnify the effect as the young woman met the stare with a guilty one of her own. "I'm sorry, Yasu."

"Are you aware of how irresponsible you were this morning?" Yasu's voice remained relatively calm and that concerned Mai more than had he raised his voice, even though she knew he'd never do that. "If Naru hadn't gone with you, the woman probably wouldn't have thought twice about killing you."

"I know," Mai responded quietly. She didn't offer up any excuses; she knew that she had made him worried. "I'm sorry." Yasu looked at the young woman and sighed.

"I forgive you," he amended. "Just try not to be so reckless next time." Mai nodded and assured him that she would try – they both knew that there would be a next time. "Did you have fun with the girls?"

"Yeah," Mai answered cheerfully, glad to no longer to be on Yasu's bad side. "We window shopped for a bit and then we ate out. I wanted to pay a visit to Hotaru, but I woke up too late." She finally moved away from the door and plopped down on the couch. "How did you know where I was?"

"I talked to Naru," Yasu was nonchalant as he answered, but he avoided her eyes as he sat down across from her on the couch. "He told me everything that went down. You actually saw a ghost; that's pretty impressive."

"I don't know about impressive," Yasu looked up to find Mai pouting and staring off into space. "I'm not really sure how I feel about it, but I guess it doesn't really matter. I'll figure out how to deal." Then, she met Yasu's eyes and grinned. "How was your day?"

"Other than worrying about you all day, it's been okay," Yasu shrugged. Mai's grin faltered a bit, but she still smiled at him. "I kind of got into it with Naru, this morning." Mai's eyes widened, but she nodded in understanding.

"Did you get it all out of your system?" Mai asked. Yasu sighed and shrugged; he honestly didn't know. "Do you think that you can ever forgive him?" Yasu looked away from her pleading, brown eyes.

"I'm sure that one day, I will be able to," Yasu answered hesitantly. "Don't worry, though; I'll play nice with Big Boss." He turned back to grin at Mai.

Mai sighed and pouted, but didn't argue with him. She knew that he would forgive the narcissist in his own time; she just hoped that it wouldn't make work too difficult. She'd have to worry about that later, though; another more pressing issue was on her mind. "Hey, Yasu, I've been thinking a lot about Hotaru, as of late. There's something that I've been contemplating, but I want your input."

"What is it?" Yasu asked. He knew that she always had a soft spot in her heart for children. The fact that Hotaru was an orphan, with abilities that he wasn't quite sure how to control, probably gave him a very special place in her heart.

"I was thinking that I want to adopt him," Mai spoke quietly, afraid of Yasu's response. Yasu was silent as he thought rationally.

Emotionally, he knew that Mai would be a good mother. Intellectually, his mind was thinking about the extra cost of having a kid, plus the constant attention he would need. The kid had lost both his parents and lived most of his life in an orphanage; he'd need so much more devotion than the normal kid.

"I know that it'll be hard work," Mai broke through his musings with her own thoughts. "He'll need a lot of attention and love, but I'm confident that I can give him that much, at least. It would also be a bit expensive, but we'll have a lot extra money with the job switch." This was true; Naru wasn't too stingy when it came to payment. Originally, he paid Mai a substantial amount because he knew she was an orphan - much like he used to be, before Martin and Luella adopted him and his brother.

"Where would he go when you were working?" Yasu asked, trying to see how far she had actually thought this through. Mai expected this; she was used to simply doing things on the fly without much thought.

"I'd take him with me to the office," Mai answered, and continued before he could ask his next question. "If we have a particularly bad case we have to go on, I'll make sure to find a very trustworthy daycare service that can care for him while we're gone. I was thinking it'd be nice to leave him with the church during those times, since the orphanage kids and the daycare kids play together – he'd be with his old friends."

"You've really thought this through," Mai pouted at the shock that colored Yasu's voice. She knew it was well deserved, but it irritated her just the same. "Would we give him the spare room?"

"Yeah," Mai answered cheerfully, happy that he seemed to be going along with it for now. "We only have a couple totes of winter clothes in there, so I figured we could put them in our closet and make it into a child-friendly bedroom. If you're okay with it, that is."

"I'm okay with it," he spoke after a moment of consideration. "But you'll have to talk to Monk and Ayako about it first and get their input. I'd hate to see how they'd react if you did something this big without consulting them."

"Tell me about it," Mai groaned. "When I switched from the job that gave me barely any hours to the tea-shop, they glared at me for a week afterward. I can't imagine what they'd do to me with this."

"They're just worried about you," Yasu smiled fondly at the young woman. Then, his mind wandered to all the reasons they had to be worried. "Speaking of, tell me how this morning went." Mai gave another groan and then proceeded to tell him what happened.

* * *

Father Brown hesitated in front of the apartment door. He abhorred dropping by at such a late hour; it was nearly half past eleven. He also felt guilty for hiding his social call from a certain eight year old, but he felt that this would be emotionally best for the kid.

He had just worked up the courage to knock on the door when a familiar young man called his name in surprise. Father Brown turned to find his old boss walking down the hallway in his direction.

"Mr. Shibuya," John looked at the man with pleasant surprise. He had no qualms with him; sometimes, he didn't understand the way he did things, but overall he liked him. "Are you here to see Miss Taniyama and Mr. Yasuhara, as well?"

"No," Naru said with little emotion. "I have an apartment right here." He pointed to the door directly across from Mai and Yasu's. John nodded as that made a bit more sense to him – he didn't see Naru as the type to make social visits.

"Oh, I see," John laughed a bit nervously; Naru had that way with people. "That's very convenient. Well, I should probably go and talk to them; I'd hate to keep them up any longer than necessary. The Lord knows that Miss Taniyama needs her rest." The young priest's troubled, blue eyes were facing the door as he spoke this.

"It was nice to see you again, Father Brown," Naru was polite, at least, even though he really wanted to ask what the priest meant by that. "Have a good night."

"You too, Shibuya," John turned back with a smile. "Take care." Then, Naru disappeared into his apartment and John was back to staring at the door. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

"Coming," Mai shouted loud enough that John was sure the other tenants could hear her. He could almost feel Naru's irritated glare on his back. True to her word, the door swung open to reveal a panting Mai, donned in her flower print pajamas. "John!"

"Hello, Miss Taniyama," the gentle priest smiled back at the woman. "I apologize for the lateness of the hour, but there's something of importance that I'd like to discuss with you."

"Don't worry about it, Father Brown," a slightly groggy Yasu appeared behind Mai. Mai opened the door up wider and the pair stepped back. "Why don't you come on in?"

"Thank you," John smiled at the pleasant, young man. The trio made their way to the living room. John sat in the recliner and Yasu on the couch; Mai went to the kitchen to get everyone some tea.

"Is something wrong?" Yasu asked the priest as Mai handed out the warm drinks. The priest thanked Mai before becoming deeply troubled.

"Hotaru was helping me in the orphanage when he told me something slightly alarming," John's blue eyes were staring through the tea cup in his hands. "He said that he knew his mother had finally moved on and it was all due to you, Miss Taniyama."

"Where was he at around five, five thirty-ish, this morning?" Mai asked, surprising the young priest. He had secretly been hoping that the young boy had simply spent too much time around the ghost hunters and used that as the perfect way to get attention.

"He was in bed, like all the other good little children," John didn't even attempt to mask his curiosity. Yasu elbowed Mai, who had sat down next to him, and mentioned something about _'good _little children'.

"Did he tell you how he knew this?" Mai asked, ignoring Yasu's unwanted commentary. Father Brown met her warm, concerned eyes and shook his head sadly.

"He said that he didn't know," he was worried about the little boy; how much more would he have to go through? "He seemed scared by the knowledge. I wonder if this isn't the first time he's experience something like this."

"Perhaps he's clairvoyant," Yasu suggested. "Like Mai, his instincts are on overload and he knows things that he probably shouldn't." The other two were silent as they pondered that.

"That does seem likely," the said clairvoyant girl agreed. "I might be able to get Naru to test him, like he did me. It shouldn't be too hard; he'll probably be interested in Hotaru's abilities anyways." Yasu made an effort to not make some snide remark.

"That would be nice," John felt the burden lift off his shoulders as he sunk into the recliner. As he relaxed, he missed the look Mai and Yasu shared; he didn't know the silent message they sent to one another.

"It's a good thing you're here, John," Yasu started. He stared straight into John's startled, curious eyes. "Mai and I were actually planning on calling you tomorrow."

"Is there something you needed?" John asked. He could sense that the pair was planning something and he knew how mischievous the two could be at times, so he was a bit wary.

"We actually wanted to talk to you about Hotaru," Mai's brown eyes were filled with sincerity and apprehension. John began to wonder if the child had behaved badly the day before and Mai seemed to guess his thoughts. "Before you get any ideas, he was great when I had him the other day! He was very helpful and we had fun."

"Then, what seems to be the problem, Miss Taniyama?" The priest honestly couldn't predict what they were going to say. Mai took a deep breath and looked to Yasu for support, before turning back to Father Brown.

* * *

Hotaru looked around the lounge area – only familiar because of the memories of others. His green eyes wandered over to the coffee table where a strange contraption sat. The contraption seemed to simply be a row of red buttons; Hotaru had no idea how that was going to figure anything out.

"Taniyama, Shibuya," Father Brown called out from beside the young boy. Hotaru turned to look at the door that was opening on the wall behind the lounge area. Mai came out with an irritated expression that changed once she saw Hotaru and John.

"Hey, guys!" Mai was cheery as she made her way to the pair. Hotaru wrapped his arms around the woman and held onto her. Mai smiled and put an arm around him. "Are you excited about the test?"

"I guess," Hotaru shrugged against the woman, still not wanting to let go. "Will this really help?" He looked at the contraption skeptically.

"Yes," a familiar voice called out from the room where Mai had just come out of. "With this test, we will determine whether you are clairvoyant or not." Hotaru stared into cold, blue eyes for a moment before turning to warm, brown eyes.

"You're clairvoyant," the boy said with a strange certainty. Mai simply nodded and smiled. "I remember you taking the test." He pulled Mai back to her memory of that day; she had shown keen instincts on a case and when they got home, Naru had tested her abilities with the same test he was giving Hotaru.

"Are you looking through her memories?" the ever curious Naru asked, pulling them both out of Mai's head. The boy nodded in response. "That's interesting."

"It's a very unique ability," the young priest agreed. He was standing in front of the door, nervously fiddling with the folder in his hands, but he was slightly comforted by a warm smile Mai sent his way.

"Let's get started," Naru decided and sat down in one of the chairs. Hotaru reluctantly let go of Mai and allowed her to lead him to the chair the contraption sat in front of. Mai told him to listen to Naru and that she'd be waiting nearby with Father John.

John joined Mai as she leaned on her old (soon to be new) work desk. For a moment, they silently watched Naru explain the test to Hotaru. Then, almost as if remembering it, John handed the folder he held to Mai.

"That holds all the paperwork you're going to need," John explained quietly as she thumbed through it. "You won't be able to finish the adoption until you turn eighteen, but there's a way you can have him sooner. Normally, there's a trial period before the actual adoption process is completed – your trial period will be a couple months. Then, when you turn eighteen, you can finish the process."

Mai looked at the Australian priest with tears in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck and nearly hugged the living daylights out of him. He awkwardly returned the hug; he wasn't used to physical forms of affection. "Thank you, John!" She pulled away just in time to catch a glimpse of Naru's glare, but she wasn't affected by it.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" John asked after he collected himself. Mai looked at the young boy who was intent on pressing the right button and smiled. She wasn't really sure of anything except the growing desire to help that young boy.

"To be honest, not entirely," Mai laughed quietly. "But I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Plus, I have the family backing me up, so I'm not too worried." When she had told Monk and Ayako of her plans, they were ecstatic, but they kept pointing out that they were too young to be grandparents.

"I have confidence in you," John admitted optimistically. "Even so, I wish you the best of luck." Mai could feel the faith he had in her and her eyes grew watery again.

"Thanks," she said, grinning at the priest. "I'm going to need it, I have a feeling." The two fell into a comfortable silence as they watched Naru and Hotaru's little experiment.

Naru kept an eye on the results and was amazed at how similar they were to Mai's results. He had warned Hotaru that the test would be slightly different so he couldn't pick through Mai's memories and use the same answers she had. It was clear that the kid had a lot of potential, which is exactly what Naru told him when the test was finished.

"Thank you, sir," was all Hotaru said before walking over to where Mai and John stood. "Did you hear him, momma? I'm just like you." The entire office froze at what he called her, but Mai was the first to move.

"Cool," she said cheerfully, not letting it show how startled she had been. "That means we can work on our abilities together." She ruffled his hair and he smiled up at her.

"I'm curious about your other abilities," Naru was the second to unfreeze and he came up behind the boy. "Maybe you and Mai could come over later this week so we can discuss them." If he was honest with himself, he would have admitted that the office was far too quiet as he waited for Mai's two-week-notice to be up at the tea shop.

"Maybe," Hotaru turned to look at the raven haired man, his eyes trailed to his hand. Hotaru was interested in what Naru's memories held. He turned back to Mai. "Can we?"

Mai was met with two pairs of insistent eyes. She looked to the priest, but he was no help since he was still reeling from the 'momma' incident. She sighed and turned to look at the green eyes, since they seemed easier to think with. "I don't see any reason why we can't."

"Good," Naru had been confident that he would win that fight. "I'll see you on Wednesday, then." Mai heard the dismissal in his voice and grabbed Hotaru's hand.

"Thanks for the help! See you, Wednesday," Mai nodded. "Come on, Hotaru. Let's go to my apartment for a bit." She started for the door, only to look back at a still flabbergasted John. "Father Brown, are you coming?"

"Oh, right!" John snapped out of it and started to follow them. "It was nice to see you, again, Shibuya. Thank you." Then, the trio left the narcissistic man to bask in his usual silence.

_'Momma' _Naru thought with slight amusement as he picked up the test results. _I wonder what had inspired the kid to say that. _

His mind wondered what the woman he called Momma and the priest had been up to while he had been giving the test. They had been whispering something and Naru didn't miss the quick embrace they held for a moment. Then, there was that folder that passed between them. He was still pondering these things when his mother entered the office.

**"Noll, are you done with your test?" **the woman was slightly disappointed to find the lounge area empty and the light coming from Naru's open office door. She started to walk towards the office when she felt something crunch under her foot. **"What's this?"**

She picked up a pamphlet that had **'How to Handle a Child Whose Parents Were Murdered' **written in English across the top. Luella flipped through it, thinking it strange that it would be in this particular office. While she was examining it, her son resurfaced from his cave.

**"What are you looking at, Mother?"** Naru sat the file he had on Hotaru down on Mai's desk and walked over to Luella. She held the pamphlet out to him.

**"I found this on the floor," **she answered, her curiosity burning. **"I was wondering if it was yours. It's admittedly a bit odd to find here." **

**"It's not mine," **Naru answered as he took the pamphlet from her. As he touched it, he used his psychometric power to see where it came from. His mother continued to chatter, but the object's memory drowned her out in his mind.

_Paperwork was strewn across the table. Naru felt slightly antsy as he sorted through it; he kept resisting the urge to look over his shoulder. Through the thin walls, he could hear children laughing and playing. _

_"She might need this," thought aloud – his voice wasn't his own, but instead was the familiar voice of Father Brown. Naru – or rather, John – picked up some papers that covered the basics of childcare and placed them in a folder. He picked up a profile of Hotaru Hinata and some forms and also slid them in._

_His hand hovered above the __**'How to Handle a Child Whose Parents Were Murdered' **__pamphlet. "_It's in English," _the Australian priest thought the obvious. _"But she can read English, she told me that before she went to America." _He placed the pamphlet in the folder, thinking it might come in handy. Then, he closed the folder and placed a post-it note on it. The post-it note read, __**"Mai Taniyama"**__._

Naru returned to the office, but his mind was still far away. Mai was going to adopt Hotaru. His assistant – who he could remember falling into wells and all sorts of things and had a knack for attracting trouble or ghosts wherever she went – was going to adopt a kid.

Not that he thought that she wouldn't be a good mom – no, he thought the exact opposite. He was just startled by the suddenness of it; she hadn't even turned eighteen yet. He had no doubt that she would do a wonderful job, but if he was honest with himself, he would have found that he felt disappointed that she didn't tell him about it.

It wasn't like she didn't want to talk to him; she had talked to him for a good half-hour before Father Brown and Hotaru had showed up. She wasn't uncomfortable with bringing up heavy subjects; she brought up that she had seen his brother in her dreams again within the first ten minutes of talking. Maybe it just slipped her mind, he tried to tell himself, but he couldn't imagine forgetting something like that.

**"Did you find anything out?" **Luella had been patiently waiting for her son to come out of whatever trance he had been in. She was used to him using his powers suddenly and spacing out for a while.

**"Nothing too exciting," **he lied, not wanting to show how much it upset him. **"I suppose Mai has decided to adopt the Hinata kid." **Luella's eyes lit up at the new revelation.

**"Do you mean Hotaru?" **Naru nodded. **"That's wonderful. I was a bit worried about him; he couldn't be getting the proper care in that orphanage. I know the church does their best, but there are too many kids and not enough attention divided among them." **

Mai had filled Luella in on Hotaru's situation. Mai's words had gotten to the woman with the bleeding heart – if she hadn't heard that Mai was going to adopt the boy, Luella probably would've tried to. Naru wondered if his father would be tempted to kiss the young woman if he knew that she kept his mother from another one of her projects.

**"She's a strong girl," **Luella said, smiling softly at him suddenly. It was almost as if she could sense his worry for what Mai was taking on. **"She'll be fine. Besides, she has a great family to back her – ****_and that includes you._****"**

Naru stared at his mother in surprise. For a moment, he entertained the thought that she was telling him that he wasn't doing enough. Then, he realized that she was just trying to quench his fears; she was reminding him that he was still in Mai's life. He may have only been in a small part, but it was that part that kept him going.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, I could come up with a million excuses for why I didn't update sooner or I could just ask for forgiveness and let you ignore the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or song lyrics.


	10. Taking This One to the Grave

"Got a secret

Can you keep it?

Swear this one you'll save

Better lock it in your pocket

Taking this one to the grave

If I show you then I know you won't tell what I said

'Cause two can keep a secret if one of them is dead." – The Pierces

* * *

Naru was quite irked, to say in the least. He had been persistently bothered by a young woman whose unimpressive resume still resided in his hands. The woman still stubbornly sat on the couch in front of him, attempting to persuade him with her supposed supernatural abilities.

The woman, however, was the least of his worries. His assistant had yet to appear, even though it was already a good ten minutes _after _she was to come in for her third day back at work. His mind was far too preoccupied, by worry for his assistant and his thirst for her tea, that he had no room to even try to be polite to the other woman.

The young woman couldn't have been much older than Mai or himself. She was fairly pretty, not that Naru could keep his eyes off the office door long enough to notice. She had black hair that went past her waist; her brown eyes were filled with determination.

Her supernatural claim was that she could see the future. Her reason for wanting Naru to hire her was simple; she had heard about SPR's practices (by word of mouth, not through her abilities) and always had an interest in all things ghostly. Naru, however, could not see any validity in her claim and overall had no need for another employee – he was content with the team he had now.

"What would convince you to hire me?" the girl wasn't going to leave without putting up a fight. She was astonished when he said he didn't need an assistant or a secretary; the currently empty desk didn't help his case any.

"Ms. Michiko," Naru's patience was beginning to dissipate. "There's nothing that could convince me. I am not hiring right now. I suggest you look elsewhere." There was no sugar-coating, no room to give even the slightest glimmer of false hope. But the young woman remained seated and unfazed.

Naru was nearly resolved to throwing the woman out – even if it meant using brute force. Before he could even utter the dismissal, though, the office door opened up. The young man was relieved to catch a glimpse of his assistant before she darted into the kitchenette to make his precious tea.

Mai's ever present shadow decided against the detour and continued the path towards the lounge. He confidently sat down next to Naru and resumed playing with his action figures as if nothing was amiss. Michiko kept glancing between the two, almost as if trying to find some sort of family resemblance.

"Momma's sorry that we're so late," the young boy spoke up, never tearing his eyes from his toys. "We had a sighting on the way to work; Momma took care of it." He went back to the intense duel between the action figures and left Naru to consider his words in silence.

"Is this your son?" the woman broke his contemplative silence. Naru couldn't help but think that if she was really psychic as she claimed, she should have known these things already.

"No," Naru was slow to answer this, whether from surprise at the question or reluctance, he'd never tell. "He's my assistant's son." He was comfortable with the prospect, now.

He had confronted Mai about keeping it from him when they met to talk about her and Hotaru's powers. She was surprised and she confessed that she hadn't thought he'd want to be bothered with her personal matters, so she just didn't mention it. Which made him wonder how much she kept to herself, thinking it was a simple personal matter.

"Your assistant?" the woman asked just as Mai came into the room with a tray of drinks. She made sure to give Naru's cup to him first, figuring she'd been keeping it from him long enough. She sat a juice box in front of Hotaru, who was still playing. Then, she turned to who she had guessed to be a new client, giving her the last cup.

"Asuka!" Mai was surprised to find that particular young woman at SPR. Her eyes were bright with the excitement of seeing an old acquaintance. "What are you doing here? Do you have a case? Why didn't you call me?"

"Chillax, Mai," the other woman laughed. "I don't have a case, but I heard that this place was running again, so I thought I'd apply for a job. I was going call you when I was done here, but for a different reason entirely." Her eyes grew a bit darker as she said this, but the rest of her countenance was cheerful.

"Do you need something?" Naru glared at Mai, after getting over the shock that the two had met before. She was already taking on Hotaru; was she really going to offer her assistance to this girl?

"Well," Asuka was slow to respond, the gears were turning in her head. "I kind of got kicked out, again." Mai gave the girl a disapproving look. "I was also hoping that I could crash at your place."

"You can stay for the night," Mai decided reluctantly. "But I'll have to talk to Yasu before I agree to any long period of time." Asuka was okay with this; she had no doubt that she would be able to stay with them.

"So, about this son of yours," Asuka was quite curious about the recent addition. "He's quite the cutie! How'd you meet?" Mai smiled and began telling a condensed version of their meeting – she left out anything that involved Hotaru's mom.

"So," Naru spoke up after they had resolved to what he considered to be pointless chit-chat. "Now that you've become reacquainted, I'd appreciate it if you would please leave so my assistant can actually get something accomplished."

"Fine," Asuka conceded, but she wasn't completely finished. "I warn you now, though, that I'm very persistent. I haven't given up on working here." She stood up and turned to Mai. "What time do you get home?"

"Oh, I'll probably get home pretty late," Mai realized this and pulled a key out of her pocket. After examining it to make sure it was the right one, she handed it to Asuka. "Here, you can drop your stuff at the apartment and hang out or whatever. I hope you don't mind sleeping on the couch, our extra room is in use."

"Hey, I'm just glad that I have a place to sleep!" Asuka laughed as she took the key. "And don't worry, I promise that I won't throw any wild parties until you get back."

"I'm holding you to that," Mai grinned and led Asuka to the door. "Yasu will probably drop by later in the evening before he heads here. If you get lonely, don't be afraid to join him."

"Won't your boss get mad if I show up again?" Mai noticed that her eyes were bright as she spoke, whether from the amusement of irritating Naru or the prospect of spending time with Yasu, she didn't know.

"Don't worry about it," Mai assured her. "The office is usually full in the evenings any ways. I don't think he'll really be bothered if one more person is added to the mix. Be careful on your way home."

"I will be," Asuka started to leave and then turned back to Mai as if she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, I saw a vision about this place!"

"What is it?" Mai was well aware of Asuka's psychic abilities. She had even seen them proved several times over. She didn't doubt the young woman in the least.

"You guys are going to get a client soon," Asuka's eyes darkened as she recalled the vision. "I saw him talking about the case – it seemed odd. Be careful, okay?"

"Don't worry," Mai smiled warmly at the concerned woman. "We'll be okay. This is our job, after all." With that said she sent the young woman on her way and walked back to where Naru was waiting for her. "Asuka just told me that we're about to get a client."

"And you trust this woman?" Naru surprised Mai with his question. His cold, blue eyes seemed darker than normal and, for the life of her, Mai couldn't figure out why.

"Yes," she was wary as she spoke – the look in his eyes was quite distracting. "She can see the future. On several occasions, her visions have kept me from falling into traps left by ghosts and warned me when the rent was going to be higher that month."

"How did you meet?" Naru rarely questioned Mai's intuition, especially when it came to people, but he also didn't accept information unless it was backed up with facts. He wasn't sure he could trust this woman hanging around Mai quite yet.

"She goes to school with Yasu," that didn't give her narcissistic boss any comfort. "She had seen a vision concerning the two of us and felt obliged to tell us. After that, we became close friends."

"And her getting kicked out is a normal occurrence," He hadn't missed that tidbit of information. Mai laughed nervously; she wondered if it was okay to share this. She gave Naru a long look – he seemed to be calculating something.

"She gets into fights with her parents a lot," Mai sighed, deciding it would probably be in her best interest to be open with her boss and not have to face his wrath later. "Usually, it's due to her special abilities. They kick her out for a little bit and then they take her back, having a sudden change in heart. Most of the time, she comes to stay with us until they 'forgive' her." Mai couldn't understand how they could treat their own child that way, simply because she was different.

"And you're going to take her in again?" Mai could feel Naru's irritation radiating off of him. It made her feel angry in return – what reason did he have to care? It was her life; she could do with it as she pleased.

"If Yasu's okay with it," She was careful with reminding him of this. She had found that his mood seemed to worsen whenever she mentioned her and her co-worker's living arrangements. "I see no reason why I shouldn't."

"I can see several," Naru was quick to correct her. The two had walked over to her desk and were talking quietly, out of Hotaru's earshot. "First, there's the financial burden of feeding and taking care of yet another person. Then, you have to worry about how Hotaru will react to her, if she'll be a good role-model for him, if she'll respect the fact that you're not free to do as you please anymore, and etc. Not to mention, what's her relationship with Yasu? Is the atmosphere at home going to be extremely unpleasant or are you going to have to worry about another mouth to feed in nine months?"

At first, Mai could only blink. This rant would've been uncharacteristic had this been the old Naru. Even with the new Naru it was rare; Mai had only come across it maybe once or twice since he returned. The last one had been when he confronted her about keeping things from him.

"If he got her pregnant, I'd kill them both," For a split second, Naru worried that Mai's jealous possessive side was coming out, but then her face took on a contemplative look. "I suppose that it'd be okay it they were married. But even then, it would have to be before conception. I wouldn't have that sort of shenanigans going on around Hotaru."

"What about the rest?" Naru had calmed down a bit and was slightly embarrassed by his rant. He did his best to hide his shame and was content when Mai didn't seem to make a big deal out of it.

"The financial thing isn't too much of an issue. I'm confident that she'll get a job soon enough," Mai was actually taking his angry words seriously. Had she been the same girl from a year ago, she probably would've ignored his words, yelled some insult back, and then think back and regret it. "I'm not too worried about her influence on Hotaru; Asuka's actually quite the responsible kid when it comes down to it. I _am _curious as to how Hotaru will react to her, but I guess we'll see."

"Hmm," was all Naru murmured in response. Normally, that was his sign of dismissing himself back into his cave, but this time he remained at Mai's desk. He had been leaning over the desk, with his knuckles turning white where they rested on the mahogany surface. His eyes stared unseeingly at the paperwork that was strung across the desk, deep in thought.

"Um, is something bothering you, Naru?" His stance was preventing her from doing her work. His cold blue eyes were slow to meet her warm and worried chocolate eyes. He stared at her questioning look for a brief moment.

"Is there . . . anything else . . . that I might have missed out on?" He had looked away from her and refused to meet her eyes. Mai realized that this must have been the reason he was so irritated before. Asuka's appearance must have reminded him of all the things he wasn't around for. She gave a sad smile at the revelation.

"Let's see," she forced herself to be cheery as she thought of things he might have missed. "Ayako and Monk got married, but you already know that. I think we have pictures at the apartment, if you ever want to look at them. Masako took me to America to do some ghost hunting." Naru was only faintly aware of this – he remembered hearing something about it during his psychometric trip with the pamphlet. "There's a video of that somewhere. It's only really known among the paranormal society circles. I know that your dad's seen it – so he might have it in his possession."

"My father?" this was news to Naru. His father had mentioned something about an American ghost hunting video he had seen. He also admitted that there was a clairvoyant woman in the video that particularly interested him. Naru only knew this because he complained a bit when the said woman turned down his offer to fly her to England.

"Yeah," Mai had nearly forgotten Mr. Davis's request. "He sent me an email after watching the video. He offered to fly me to England to research my powers, but I had already been away for a long time and I couldn't bear to leave my family again."

"So, you were the woman he was so excited about," Naru's comment caused the young brunette's cheeks to redden. "That also explains why he was so ready to agree with Mother's plan to help us all settle down here."

"Ah," Mai was reminded of something. "Oh yeah, he and Lin are coming soon, right? What's detaining them, anyways?" Naru stiffened at her questions and avoided her curious stare. Mai's eyes narrowed as a result. "You're keeping something from me."

The calm tone she used contradicted the aura that was surrounding her. Naru couldn't stop himself as he turned to look at her. The tears in her eyes resonated with the pain he felt. Although he would never admit it, he didn't know what to do.

"I've been sworn to secrecy," Naru spoke through clenched teeth. He was angry, but not with her; he was angry with himself. "I'm sorry."

He knew that he wouldn't be able to take the look in her eyes as she realized that he was, once again, betraying her trust by withholding information. He quickly retreated to his office before her mind could catch up with what he was saying. Once he had shut himself in his cave, he slid down the door and resisted the urge to groan in frustration.

"Naru," he could hear Mai's soft voice just beyond the door. Then, he heard angry footsteps coming closer before a loud knocking sound vibrated the door behind his head. "Hey, Naru, I wasn't done talking to you! Have you ever thought about maybe listening to what _I_ have to say for once?!" She was livid, as he expected she would be. He still couldn't bring himself to open the door and let her in. He could hear her sigh as she came to this realization. "Fine, it's your choice if you listen to me or not. I just want you to know that we're not going to blame you for keeping this _thing _from us." He could sense that she still wasn't too happy about it. "If you're sworn to secrecy, then we have to respect that."

At first, she was met with silence, and then Naru surprised even himself by speaking up. "I wish I could tell you." Mai was silent for a moment as she rested her forehead against the door. She was panting slightly from being so riled up, but a smile graced her lips.

"I know," she said, gently. Then, she walked back over to her desk, leaving him to ponder her words. She sat down to start on the paperwork that lay before her, but not without sending a concerned glance at Hotaru. The young boy seemed undisturbed by the scene that had just occurred; he was still playing with his action figures, but there was a certain gleam in his eyes that made Mai believe he knew more of what went on than she originally thought.

* * *

"Momma, what's this?" Hotaru had gotten bored with his action figures and started to pull stuff off the bookshelf beside Mai's desk. For the past hour, he had been asking Mai this question, since he couldn't read the English lettering on the books.

"A book on hitogatas," Mai only gave the book a cursory glance before returning to her paperwork. She didn't mind the young boy's curiosity, but she also knew that she had to get the work done if she wanted to make it home at a reasonable time.

"Oh, those things that Papa uses a lot," Hotaru had taken to calling Naru 'papa' when it was just he and Mai. Mai didn't quite understand it, but she just figured it stemmed from the amount of time Naru spent with him – telling him ghost stories and whatnot.

"Yep," Mai gave the boy a grin. "You sure know a lot about ghost hunting. You just might be a ghost hunter, yet." The boy beamed at the praise before pulling another book off the shelf.

Mai had just finished answering yet another question, when the bell on the door rang, indicating that someone had entered the office. Mai quickly went to see who it was before leading the greying man to the lounge. Hotaru went to inform Naru that they had a client – the first client they've had in a year.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm sorry for the slow update...I could come up with a million excuses, but there'd be no point. So, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter!

Also, for the Yasu fans - I'm sorry he's not really in this chapter much. Don't worry, though; he'll be back! Thank you for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or song lyrics.


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